IRAQ: Violence in Iraq continues with seven civilians wounded in Ramadi and two Shi'ite pilgrims killed in Baghdad attacks

Record ID: 375709

  • Title: IRAQ: Violence in Iraq continues with seven civilians wounded in Ramadi and two Shi'ite pilgrims killed in Baghdad attacks
  • Date: 15th March 2006
  • Summary: (BN09) RAMADI, IRAQ (MARCH 14, 2006) (REUTERS) COLUMN OF BLACK SMOKE RISING FROM U.S. BASE (AUDIO OF GUNFIRE AND VOICES) SMOKE BILLOWING INTO THE SKY ABOVE PALM TREES COLUMN OF BLACK SMOKE RISING FROM U.S. BASE (AUDIO OF GUNFIRE) BLACK SMOKE DRIFTING OVER BUILDING PAN FOLLOWING CLOUDS OF SMOKE (AUDIO OF HELICOPTER) COLUMN OF BLACK SMOKE SMOKE IN THE SKY WITH HELICOPTER F
  • Embargoed: 30th March 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA9N4OXZBWWNT6FPNHX4GAPGFPB
  • Story Text: Clashes erupted between gunmen and United States forces in the centre of the troubled city of Ramadi, west of the capital on Tuesday (March 14) night, witnesses said.
    Residents in the city said the fighting, which took place in the centre of the city, started shortly after sunset when gunmen attacked the U.S. base in the city with mortar rounds and rocket-propelled grenades (RBGs), sending a column of thick black smoke billowing into the sky.
    The attack drew fire from the U.S. forces and witnesses said that clashes lasted for nearly two hours. The U.S. military could not be reached for comment.
    On Tuesday, the U.S. military reported that two U.S. soldiers were killed during fighting in Anbar province on Monday (March 13).
    Witnesses said that eight civilians were killed and seven others wounded in the clashes. However there is no confirmation from the hospital sources in the city.
    Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, became an insurgent citadel soon after Saddam Hussein's regime fell two years ago. U.S. and Iraqi forces claimed to have quelled it in February 2005 during Operation River Blitz, a sweep through restive towns and cities in Anbar province.
    Intelligence officials believe Iraq's western Anbar province, which Ramadi is part of, is the main entry point used by extremist groups, including Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaeda in Iraq, to smuggle in foreign fighters. Syria is under intense pressure from Washington and Baghdad to tighten control of its porous 380-mile border with Iraq.
    In the capital Baghdad, three civilians were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded as a patrol of the Iraqi police drove past in central Baghdad on Wednesday (March 15), police sources said.
    They said that police patrol had escaped the attack that took place in Al-Wathiq Square in central Baghdad.
    Meanwhile, four civilians were wounded in a bomb blast near a patrol station in Baghdad's northern district of Al-Shaab, police said.
    In the southern Baghdad district of Bayaa, gunmen opened fire on a group of Shi'ite pilgrims headed on food to the holy city of Kerbala for the commemoration of the Arbaeen, the end of the 40-day Ashura period honouring the death of Imam al-Hussein, a grandson of the prophet Mohammed, who was killed in a seventh century battle in the city of Kerbala.
    Two pilgrims were killed in the attack and were moved to Yarmouk Hospital.
    The surge in sectarian violence in the wake of the bombing of a sacred Shi'ite shrine in Samarra last month has complicated negotiations for Iraq's first permanent, post-invasion government. A caretaker government has been in charge since the December elections and U.S. and Iraqi officials fear the vacuum in authority has fuelled the bloodshed.
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