- Title: IRAQ: HOLY CITY OF NAJAF QUIET AFTER CURFEW IS IMPOSED.
- Date: 7th August 2004
- Summary: (U2) NAJAF, IRAQ (AUGUST 7, 2004)(REUTERS-ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS: NIGHT SHOTS OF EMPTY STREETS. (4 SHOTS) 0.26 2. VARIOUS: U.S. HUMVEES DRIVING IN STREETS ON PATROL. (5 SHOTS) 1.50 (U2) NAJAF, IRAQ (AUGUST 8, 2004) (REUTERS-ACCESS ALL) 3. GV/MLV: SUN RISE. (2 SHOTS) 2.04 4. VARIOUS: NEAR EMPTY STREETS. (6 SHOTS) 2.53 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 22nd August 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NAJAF, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVADNCEZQU8QNWX8X2Y8QLBYJPUM
- Story Text: The holy city of Najaf is almost quiet after curfew
is imposed.
The streets of Najaf were almost quiet overnight
from Saturday (August 7) to Sunday (August 8) expect for
sporadic gunfire that sounded through the city.
Sporadic explosions and gunfire echoed through the holy
Shi'ite city on Saturday (August 7) after two days of
intense clashes between U.S. forces and Shiite Muslim
insurgents that marked some of the bloodiest fighting in
Iraq in months.
Streets that had been the scene of fierce fighting
between militia loyal to the cleric since Thursday were
deserted and Iraqi police were on control of the city were
almost empty following a curfew imposed by the Iraqi
interim government to contain the unrest and U.S. Humvees
blocked the main roads into the city.
The city was the quietest it had been since fighting
erupted on Thursday between American troops and militants
loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and spread to
several cities across Iraq including the capital.
Clashes between U.S. Marines and Sadr's militiamen had
continued into a third day on Saturday in Najaf.
The marines have said they had killed 300 fighters. But
a militia spokesman has said only 36 militiamen had died in
several Iraqi cities from clashes that have fuelled fears
of a new rebellion of radical Shi'ites.
Tension has been rising in Najaf since Iraqi security
forces surrounded Sadr's house earlier this week. Fighting
there on Thursday (August 5) was the fiercest since the
uprising in April and May.
U.S. Marines recently replaced the U.S. Army in Najaf
and analysts have suggested the upsurge in violence is
linked to the Marines taking a more aggressive approach
towards Sadr's militia, the Mehdi Army.
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