- Title: IRAQ: FIGHTING CONTNUES IN NAJAF.
- Date: 11th August 2004
- Summary: (W3) NAJAF, IRAQ (AUGUST 11, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV: MOSQUE 0.07 2. LV/GV: SMOKE RISING BEHIND TREES WITH AUDIO OF GUNFIRE (5 SHOTS) 0.52 3. GV: EMPTY STREET 0.58 (W3) NAJAF, IRAQ (AUGUST 11, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) (MUTE) 4. LV/PAN: AMBULANCE 1.04 5. GV: MEN CARRYING STRETCHER ACROSS ROAD 1.09
- Embargoed: 26th August 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NAJAF, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVAQPJL3CPP9OKC0AWKO9O8HSI6
- Story Text: Gunfire echoes around streets of Najaf as cleric
Moqtada al-Sadr says fight goes on to the death.
Najaf was relatively quite on Wednesday morning
(August 11) after a night of sporadic clashes around the
city's ancient cemetery and Imam Ali Shrine.
Gunfire still echoed around the streets, and plumes of
smoke rose from various explosions.
There was the odd ambulance on the street, but not many.
And doctors say they've been prevented from doing their
job after coming under attack.
Some ambulances had been shot at and had their
windscreens smashed.
At a news conference one health official said 18 of his
staff had either been killed or wounded since fighting in
Najaf escalated.
In all, he said 146 civilians were wounded and more
than 25 killed.
U.S forces continued to patrol the skies.
Meanwhile, over 300 hundred people marched through the
streets of the holy city, demanding an immediate halt to fighting.
Carrying banners, the demonstrators also called for the
resignation of Najaf's governor and the withdrawal of
U.S.-led multinational forces from the city.
But in a show of defiance radical Shi'ite Muslim cleric, Moqtada
al-Sadr urged his militia on Wednesday to
keep fighting U.S. forces in Iraq even if he is killed,
raising the stakes in a bloody confrontation that shows no
sign of ending.
"Keep fighting even if you see me a prisoner or a
martyr. God willing you will be victorious," Sadr said in a
statement from Najaf, where he is holed up with his fighters.
The Najaf fighting is part of a radical Shi'ite
uprising in several cities across central and southern
Iraq. It is the second rebellion from Sadr's Mehdi Army in
four months.
U.S. forces say they have killed 360 Sadr loyalists so
far in Najaf. Sadr's spokesmen say far fewer have died.
U.S. forces have been pounding Sadr's Mehdi militiamen
with warplanes and helicopters for days. The Iraqi fighters
have taken sanctuary in the vast cemetery near the Imam Ali
Shrine, one of Shi'ite Islam's holiest sites.
U.S. military officials have said 2,000 marines were
involved in Najaf, along with army units and Iraqi security
forces. No other foreign troops are believed to be engaged.
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