IRAQ: MILITIAMEN LOYAL TO REBEL CLERIC SAY THEY HAVE BEEN TOLD TO WITHDRAW FROM NAJAF.

Record ID: 648004

  • Title: IRAQ: MILITIAMEN LOYAL TO REBEL CLERIC SAY THEY HAVE BEEN TOLD TO WITHDRAW FROM NAJAF.
  • Date: 27th May 2004
  • Summary: NAJAF, IRAQ (MAY 27, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. GV: EXTERIOR IMAM ALI MOSQUE 0.06 2. GV: STREET SCENES WITH NO MILITIA 0.12 3. GV/MV/CU: PEOPLE GOING TO STRET MARKET (5 SHOTS) 0.35 4. GV/PAN/MV: SUPPORTERS OF REBEL SHI'ITE CLERIC MOQTADA SADR (ABOUT 100) 0.48 5. MV/PAN/CU: FUNERAL FOR ONE OF MEHDI ARMY FIGHTER KILLED 2 NIGHTS AGO IN FIERCE FIGHTING WITH US SOLDIERS (3 SHOTS) 1.28 6. MV: SHEIKH NAAMA ABADI READING 1.34 7. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SHEIKH NAAMA ABADI, SAYING: "These attacks are killing us. We want to give our sons a future different to this one and to participate in the rebuilding of the country whose people were starving under Saddam. The Americans came here, in the name of democracy and liberation, to kill and burn our people. For What? What did they do? All they did was tell the Americans not to violate their holy shrine. What happened?" 2.09 8. MCU: MAN IN BOOKSHOP 2.16 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 11th June 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NAJAF, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVAEV6T2W2M60JK2DNJIS749SWZC
  • Story Text: Militiamen loyal to rebel cleric say they have been
    told to withdraw from Najaf.



    Militiamen loyal to rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr
    said their leaders had told them to withdraw from the Iraqi
    holy city of Najaf by midday (0800 GMT) on Thursday
    following a truce offer from Sadr.

    Ali Abu Zahra, a commander of one of the Mehdi Army
    units that has been battling, told reporters in Najaf,
    that the demand was put in the form of a written and a
    verbal order.

    Earlier on Thursday, Iraq's national security adviser
    Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, quoting a statement signed by Sadr,
    said the cleric was willing to pull members of his Mehdi
    Army who are not from Najaf out of the holy city, and had
    demanded in return that a murder case for which he is
    wanted be suspended.

    "To end the tragic situation in Najaf and the
    violation... of the holy places, I announce my agreement to
    the following: an end to all armed demonstrations, the
    evacuation of government buildings...and the withdrawal of
    all Mehdi Army fighters," the statement said.

    A Sadr spokesman Ahmed Shebani, said Sadr's people had
    always been willing to negotiate with the Americans.

    "As early as the start of the uprising, from the first
    bullet shot in the uprising, from the first fallen martyr,
    Sadr's office tried to achieve honourable negotiations and
    try to offer Iraqis what is their right. We did not close
    the door to negotiations and we are willing to listen to
    any delegation, any tribal leader, any politician, Iraqi or
    not, in order to solve this crisis," he said.

    Iraq's U.S. occupiers have spent weeks trying to crush
    Sadr's militia, which has support among Shi'ites in the
    capital and southern cities, since he launched an uprising
    in April after the arrest of a key aide and the
    announcement of a warrant for his arrest over the murder of
    a rival cleric.



  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register