IRAQ: RELIGIOUS LEADERS FRIDAY PRAYERS IN BAGHDAD AND KAFA. / SHI'ITE REBELS FIGHT TROOPS IN KERBALA.
Record ID:
648226
IRAQ: RELIGIOUS LEADERS FRIDAY PRAYERS IN BAGHDAD AND KAFA. / SHI'ITE REBELS FIGHT TROOPS IN KERBALA.
- Title: IRAQ: RELIGIOUS LEADERS FRIDAY PRAYERS IN BAGHDAD AND KAFA. / SHI'ITE REBELS FIGHT TROOPS IN KERBALA.
- Date: 23rd April 2004
- Summary: (U4) KUFA, NAJAF, IRAQ (APRIL 23, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. WS/ZOOM IN: OF MOQTADA AL SADR ARRIVING AT PODIUM TO DELIVER FRIDAY SERMON. 0.05 2. WS: WORSHIPERS CHANTING FOR SADR. 0.12 3. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SADR, SAYING "Neither are we few in number nor do we lack weapons, and believers, men and women, have come to me and asked permission to become martyrs and to execute martyrdom operations. But I keep telling them to wait." 0.35 4. WS: WORSHIPERS CHANTING FOR SADR. 0.41 (W5) UMM AL-QURA MOSQUE, BAGHDAD, IRAQ (APRIL 23, 2004) (REUTERS) 5. WS: WORSHIPERS AT UMM AL-QURA MOSQUE IN BAGHDAD. 0.47 6. CU: MAN PRAYING. 0.55 7. MV: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SHEIKH AHMED ABDUL GHAFOUR, SAYING "Any new bloodshed in Falluja and any action that will shed new blood in Falluja will ignite situation all over Iraq and a hundred Falluja will emerge." 1.17 8. WS: OF WORSHIPERS AND FRIDAY PRAYER LEADER. 1.21 (W5) SADR CITY, BAGHDAD, IRAQ (APRIL 23, 2004) (REUTERS) 9. WS: OF PEOPLE GATHERING FOR FRIDAY PRAYER AT SADR CITY REBEL SHI'ITE CLERIC MOQTADA AL-SADR PREACHING. 1.28 10. SCU: SOUNDBITE (Arabic) SHEIKH AL-DARAJI, SAYING "I say to the infidel occupier that your action will turn the street against you and the situation will return as it was in the first days as we can not control the reactions of the people of the city, therefore you have to relinquish your reckless policies." 1.52 11. WS: SHEIKH AL-DARAJI ADDRESSING CROWD. 1.57 12. VARIOUS: OF PRAYER. (4 SHOTS) 2.23 (W5) KERBALA, IRAQ (APRIL 23, 2004) (REUTERS) 13. WS: ROOFTOP OF HOUSES, AUDIO GUNFIRE. 2.30 14. WS: SMOKE RISING. 2.36 15. SCU: FIRE FIGHTERS EXTINGUISHING FIRE IN CAR. 2.43 16. WS: PEOPLE RUNNING DOWN STREET / FIRE FIGHTING VEHICLE AND AMBULANCE ON THE FAR END / TRUCK ON FIRE. 2.50 17. MV: MAN HOLDING UP PICTURE OF REBEL SHI'ITE CLERIC MOQTADA AL SADR CELEBRATING NEAR BURNING TRUCK/ PEOPLE NEARBY CHANTING SUPPORT FOR SADR. 2.56 18. CU: OF BURNING TRUCK. (2 SHOTS) 3.05 19. CU: BLOOD ON GROUND. 3.10 20. VARIOUS: MASKED MILITIAMEN IN BLACK CARRYING RIFLES. 3.20 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 8th May 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: KERBALA, KAFA AND BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA2GPRHU9HTZR1MY3HDL65ZHMZS
- Story Text: Religious leaders in Iraq warn of possible further
violence while Shi'ite rebels fight foreign troops in
Kerbala.
Rebel Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on Friday
(April 23) he could unleash suicide bombers if U.S. forces
attacked the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf, and called on the
whole nation to unite to expel Iraq's occupiers.
U.S. forces are poised just outside Najaf and have
vowed to kill or capture Sadr and destroy his Mehdi Army
militia, which has clashed with foreign forces across south
and central Iraq.
Speaking at Friday prayers in Kufa, next to Najaf, Sadr
told thousands of Shi'ites Najaf would never fall to the
occupiers.
"Neither are we few in number nor do we lack weapons,"
he said. "Believers, men and women, have come to me and
asked permission to become martyrs and to execute martyrdom
operations. I keep telling them to wait."
Sadr went on to say that if attacks continued in Najaf
he would call on these believers to fight back.
During Friday prayers in Baghdad, Sheikh Ahmed Abdul
Ghafour said that resistance against U.S. forces would
spread throughout Iraq if the U.S. forces launched new
military assault against the western flashpoint city of
Falluja .
"Any new bloodshed in Falluja and any action that will
shed new blood in Falluja will ignite situation all over
Iraq and a hundred Falluja will emerge," Sheikh Ghafour
told worshippers at Umm al-Qura Mosque in Baghdad.
More than 2,000 Marines are poised to strike Falluja,
30 miles west of Baghdad, as their commanders say a new
offensive could be launched in days if guerrillas fail to
hand over heavy weapons and peace negotiators don't
deliver.
The Americans possess overwhelming firepower but
capturing or killing combatants won't be easy in Falluja, a
tough town with a wide range of enemies united only by
hatred for the U.S. occupiers.
Sheikh Abdul Hadi al-Daraji, who led prayers in Sadr
City in Baghdad, warned the U.S. forces of the consequences
of their "reckless" polices, threatening a renew of revolt
and clashes with coalition forces.
"I say to the infidel occupier that your action will
turn the street against you and the situation will return
as it was in the first days as we can not control the
reactions of the people of the city, therefore you have to
relinquish your reckless policies," Daraji told his large
congregation of worshippers.
In Kerbala, U.S.-led coalition forces exchanged fire
with the militia of Moqtada al-Sadr.
Witnesses and officials said Mehdi Army militiamen,
firing assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades,
ambushed a military convoy in the centre.
A spokesman for the Polish-led multinational division
in charge of south-central Iraq confirmed there had been
exchanges some 500-600 metres (yards) from the town hall
after one military vehicle was hit in the ambush.
He said one coalition soldier was wounded.
The Bulgarian Defence Ministry later said a Bulgarian
soldier shot in the head in the ambush died of his wounds.
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