- Title: IRAQ: U.S. FORCES POUND THE SHI'ITE MILITIA IN NAJAF.
- Date: 10th August 2004
- Summary: NAJAF, IRAQ (AUGUST 10, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS: OF U.S. TANKS DRIVING IN THE STREET. (2 SHOTS) 0.25 2. MLV: IRAQI POLICE IN STREET. 0.36 3. TRACK: WOMAN WALKING DOWN THE STREET WITH TWO CHILDREN. 0.40 4. MLV: STREET/ AUDIO OF SHOTS. 0.45 5. MLV: MEN CARRYING A MAN IN STRETCHER IN THE STREET. 0.58 6. WS: SUNSET OVER CITY. 1.04 7. LAS: PLANES FLYING OVERHEAD/MISSILES FIRED. 1.25 8. WS: SMOKE OVER CITY. 1.39 9. WS: BACK YARD OF A HOUSE/ AUDIO OF GUNFIRE. 1.52 10. LAS: PLANES FLYING OVERHEAD/MISSILES FIRED. 2.13 11. WS: BUILDING/ AUDIO OF FIRED MISSILE. 2.20 12. WS: OF THE CITY WITH MOSQUE. 2.27 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 25th August 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NAJAF, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA8ZZI8CL9VUOCX5MB1N2KVOUZL
- Story Text: U.S. forces pound Shi'ite militia in Najaf.
U.S. forces pounded Shi'ite militia from the air
and ground in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf on Tuesday
(August 10), and used loudspeakers to urge the entrenched
fighters to lay down their weapons.
U.S. planes struck positions near the city's ancient
Shi'ite Muslim cemetery, a haven for militiamen from
firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army who have been
battling American marines for six straight days.
Marines have thrown a tight cordon around the cemetery
and the Imam Ali Shrine but have yet to make a full assault
on fighters holed up in the sites, a move that would enrage
Iraq's majority Shi'ite community and probably spark
further violence.
U.S. marines say they have killed 360 of Sadr's
loyalists since last Thursday (August 6) in Najaf, some 160
km (100 miles) south of Baghdad. Sadr's spokesmen say far
fewer have died.
Allawi has ordered Sadr's men to leave Najaf but the
young firebrand cleric who appeals to poor Shi'ite youth
with his anti-American rhetoric responded with defiance on
Monday (August 9), saying he would keep resisting and never
leave his hometown.
The fighting has buried a two-month ceasefire with U.S.
forces and appears to have stalled efforts by Allawi to
draw Sadr into the country's political transition.
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