IRAQ: PHOTOGRAPHER INJURED DURING FIGHTING IN NAJAF

Record ID: 376260

  • Title: IRAQ: PHOTOGRAPHER INJURED DURING FIGHTING IN NAJAF
  • Date: 27th August 2004
  • Summary: (W4) NAJAF, IRAQ (AUGUST 17, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. DOME OF IMMAM ALI MOSQUE WITH SMOKE RISING FROM A NEARBY BUILDING/ AUDIO OF MACHINE-GUN FIRE AND EXPLOSION 0.10 2. WIDE OF SMOKE BILLOWING FROM BUILDING 0.22 3. VARIOUS OF U.S. MILITARY VEHICLES BLOCKING OFF ROAD 0.33 4. U.S SOLDIERS ON TOP OF HUMVEE 0.48 5. SLV
  • Embargoed: 11th September 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NAJAF,IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA5XRPJNPI07SQU2U4A1YI3AT70
  • Story Text: Clashes between supporters of a radical Shi'ite
    cleric and U.S. forces continue.




    U.S. forces fought pitched battles with members of
    the Mehdi Army - the Shi'ite militia loyal to radical
    Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the holy city of Najaf on
    Tuesday (August 17).

    Explosions echoed across the Old City of Najaf and
    thick smoke rose into the sky as U.S. tanks and armoured
    vehicles took positions near the holy sites where the
    militia loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al Sadr are
    entrenched.

    Thousands of protesters have joined al-Sadr in the Imam
    Ali Mosque, promising to act as human shields in the city
    of 600,000 people some 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad.

    Iraq's Interior Ministry said it had issued an order
    for Iraqi and U.S. forces not to attack the shrine.

    A Reuters photographer was wounded in the leg while
    covering the fighting. The photographer, an Iraqi, was
    treated for bullet fragment wounds at a U.S. combat
    hospital and later released.

    The new violence highlighted the massive security
    challenge facing interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, as
    Iraqi political and religious leaders flew into Najaf on
    Tuesday on a mission to bring about the end of the fighting.

    The two-week Shi'ite Muslim rebellion has hit eight
    central and southern cities in all and has claimed hundreds
    of lives.



  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register