- Title: IRAQ:
- Date: 23rd August 2004
- Summary: (U6) NAJAF, IRAQ (AUGUST 23, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV: DISTANT VIEW IMAM ALI MOSQUE. 0.07 2. WS: EXTERIOR IMAM ALI MOSQUE. 0.14 3. SCU: SOUNDBITE (Arabic) SHEIKH AHMED SHEIBANI, TOP AIDE TO MOQTADA AL-SADR: "There is a statement from the Iraqi police saying that Moqtada al-Sadr has left for Sulaimaniya. This is a rumour. They (Iraqi police) are calling the people of Najaf to go back to work." 0.38 4. WS: EMPTY STREET. 0.42 5. TRAVEL: OF IRAQI POLICE PATROLLING IN VEHICLES, CALLING ON LOUDSPEAKERS FOR PEOPLE TO GIVE UP THEIR WEAPONS. 0.55 6. WS/MV: OF IRAQI POLICE SEARCHING MEN. (2 SHOTS) 1.05 7. CU: OF U.S. TANK MOVING THROUGH DESTROYED WALL. 1.18 8. MV: U.S. SOLDIER ON TANK. 1.22 9. WS: U.S. MILITARY VEHICLES ON STREET. (2 SHOTS) 1.33 10. MV: U.S. SOLDIERS GETTING INTO MILITARY VEHICLE. 1.51 (U6) AL-KIFAL, 30 KM OUTSIDE NAJAF, IRAQ (AUGUST 23, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 11. WS: EXTERIOR ZIED BEN ALI MOSQUE. 1.56 12. VARIOUS: INTERIOR MOSQUE/ VARIOUS OF FAMILIES, MAN FANNING BABY, FOOD BEING PREPARED. (7 SHOTS) 2.29 13. SCU: SOUNDBITE (Arabic) UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: "We left Najaf and we came here. We don't have anything here. We spent nine days in this mosque so we don't have clothes, food. People bring food for us. Our children have no clothes. This is not good. We left our homes." 2.52 14. SCU: FAMILIES SEATED ON FLOOR. 2.57 15. SCU: OLD WOMAN FANNING HERSELF. 3.02 16. SCU: WOMAN COOKING. 3.07 17. MV: OLD MAN SEATED ON FLOOR WITH TWO WOMEN BEHIND. 3.14 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 7th September 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NAJAF AND AL KIFAL, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA9SELUPDHQP1MZEQZU11N2198R
- Story Text: Iraqi police urge Mehdi army to give up their weapons; al-Sadr
whereabouts remain unknown despite rumours he had fled to the north.
Sporadic clashes continued around the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf on
Monday (August 23) following heavy fighting earlier in the day.
The whereabouts of hardline Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr were still
unknown. Earlier police in the city said they had information that he had fled
to Sulaimaniya, in Kurdish northern Iraq. But Sadr's aides and local
government officials in Sulaimaniya denied the report.
"There is a statement from the Iraqi police saying that Moqtada
al-Sadr has left for Sulaimaniya. This is a rumour," said Sadr top aide,
Sheikh Ahmed Sheibani.
Iraqi police patrolled the streets of Najaf on Monday (August 23)
urging people to give up their weapons.
Calling through loudspeakers they appealed to Mehdi Army militias to
lay down weapons and leave the Imam Ali shrine and various positions in the
city.
U.S. tanks and military vehicles continued to patrol the streets,
though they appeared to have pulled back from positions occupied just 800
metres from the Imam Ali shrine on Sunday (August 22).
Most residents have fled the fighting in the old city. Some families
moved into the Zied Ben Ali mosque in the al-Kifal area, 30 kilometres
away.
"We left Najaf and we came here. We don't have anything here. We
spent nine days in this mosque so we don't have clothes, food. People bring
food for us. Our children have no clothes. This is not good," said one
woman.
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