IRAQ: SHI'ITE MILITIA TAKE ON BRITISH SOLDIERS IN BASRA. / GUN BATTLES IN AMARA. / SHEIKH ABDUL SATTAR AL BAHADLI OFFERS CASH REWARDS FOR THE CAPTURE OF MALE AND FEMALE COALITION SOLDIERS.

Record ID: 377084

  • Title: IRAQ: SHI'ITE MILITIA TAKE ON BRITISH SOLDIERS IN BASRA. / GUN BATTLES IN AMARA. / SHEIKH ABDUL SATTAR AL BAHADLI OFFERS CASH REWARDS FOR THE CAPTURE OF MALE AND FEMALE COALITION SOLDIERS.
  • Date: 7th May 2004
  • Summary: (W3) BASRA, IRAQ (MAY 8, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. TRACK: SHEIKH ABDUL SATTAR AL BAHADLI, REPRESENTATIVE OF REBEL SHI'ITE CLERIC MOQTADA AL-SADR, GETTING OUT OF CAR, WAVING A PISTOL IN HIS HAND AND APPROACHING ARMED AND CHANTING MILITIAMEN. 0.31 2. MLV: OF MEHDI ARMY MILITIAMEN IN STREETS, ARMED WITH RPGs (ROCKET PROPELLED GRENADE LAUNCHERS) 0.37 3.
  • Embargoed: 22nd May 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BASRA, AMARA, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVADV8FZN9RLTY6TEH9CBKTYD664
  • Story Text: Shi'ite fighters take on British troops in Basra. /
    Gunbattles break out in Amara after British forces seize
    offices of rebel Shi'ite cleric.



    Iraqi guerrillas and British troops fought running
    battles in Basra on Saturday (May 8) as hundreds of Mehdi
    Army fighters took to the streets in a flare-up of an
    insurgency that U.S. forces have clamped down on elsewhere.

    At least two Iraqis were killed and three soldiers
    wounded in rifle and rocket-propelled grenade attacks by
    fighters loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a British
    spokesman said.

    Large bands roamed otherwise empty streets,
    accompanying fighters brandishing grenade launchers and
    AK-47s. Gunfire and explosions sounded across the city. A
    crowd gathered at the governor's offices, under the eye of
    British guards.

    Consistent with their usual tactics, the British forces
    in Basra were hitting back when fired on but otherwise
    keeping a low profile, talking to local leaders and trying
    to avoid inflaming the situation, a British spokesman said.

    Sheikh Abdul Sattar Al Bahadli, Sadr representative,
    was seen walking with the militiamen in Basra. He addressed
    Shi'ite worshippers the day before during
    Friday (May 7) prayers offering cash rewards of 250,000
    Iraqi dinars for the capture of female coalition soldiers
    whom he said could be kept as concubines. The capture of
    male soldiers would yield 100,000 Iraqi dinars.

    "I will give a reward of 250,000 Iraqi dinars to anyone
    who captures female coalition soldiers and 100,000 for male
    soldier," he told the worshippers.

    A British newspaper quoted a British military spokesman
    in Basra as calling the offer "very worrying".

    In Amara, three gunmen were killed and two soldiers
    hurt when British troops took over offices of Sadr's
    movement, witnesses said. Two U.S. soldiers were killed and
    six Britons wounded a week ago in Amara, north of Basra, in
    clashes with Sadr's men.

    The surge in violence appeared largely to be a response
    to the crackdown on Sadr's movement by U.S. forces closer
    to Baghdad over the past few days, although local people
    also said they were angered by mounting evidence of
    widespread abuse of Iraqi detainees by U.S., and possibly
    British, troops.

    U.S. commanders have been working with rival Shi'ite
    leaders to rein in Sadr's resistance movement which swept
    southern Iraq a month ago. He is wanted for the murder of a
    fellow cleric. By U.S. accounts, dozens of his men have
    been killed in recent days, although Sadr's forces say
    those numbers are inflated.


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