- Title: IRAQ: Shi'ite fighters parade weapons in Baghdad's Sadr city
- Date: 21st June 2014
- Summary: SADR CITY, BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JUNE 21, 2014) (REUTERS) SADR SUPPORTERS AND MEMBERS OF AL-MEHDI ARMY CLAD IN MILITARY UNIFORM CARRYING PORTRAITS OF MUQTDA AL-SADR, AYATOLLAH MOHAMMED BAQER AL-SADR AND AYATOLLAH MOHAMMED SADIQ AL-SADR DURING PARADE IN BAGHDAD MEMBERS OF AL-MEHDI ARMY IN MILITARY FATIGUES PARADING VARIOUS OF MEN MARCHING IN MILITARY-STYLE PARADE VARIOUS OF VEHICLES WITH ROCKET LAUNCHERS AND MILITARY PERSONNEL PARADING
- Embargoed: 6th July 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Iraq
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA1W64UAIY4IUQV005W8KGFHNCB
- Story Text: Supporters of the radical Shi'ite cleric Mowtada al-Sadr held a military-style parade across Iraq on Saturday (June 21) as fighting continued between Iraqi army and Islamist militants north of the capital Baghdad.
Thousands of Shi'ite fighters in military fatigues carrying rocket-propelled grenades, semi-automatic rifles and trucks had mounted long-range rockets and missile launchers paraded in the streets of Iraq's southern city of Basra, driving over US and Israeli flags.
Sadr has yet to throw his fighters into the recent wave of fighting with the Islamic militants, but has criticised Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for mishandling the crisis.
Sunni fighters seized a border post on the Iraq-Syria frontier on Saturday, smashing a line drawn in 1932 by colonial powers and linking hundreds of miles of land they control to create an Islamic Caliphate from the Mediterranean Sea to Iran.
The militants, led by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), first moved into the nearby town of al-Qaim on Friday (June 20), pushing out security forces, the sources said.
Al-Qaim and its neighbouring Syrian counterpart Albukamal are on a strategic supply route. A three-year civil war in Syria has left most of eastern Syria in the hands of Sunni militants, including the Albukamal-Qaim crossing.
With stunning speed, ISIL, an offshoot of al Qaeda, has captured swathes of territory in northwest and central Iraq, including the second city, Mosul. They have seized large amounts of weaponry from the fleeing Iraqi army and looted banks. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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