IRAQ: U.S. MILITARY CONTINUE PATROLS OUTSIDE HOLY SHI'ITE CITY OF NAJAF WHERE REBEL CHERIC MOQTADA AL-SADR IS BASED

Record ID: 648628

  • Title: IRAQ: U.S. MILITARY CONTINUE PATROLS OUTSIDE HOLY SHI'ITE CITY OF NAJAF WHERE REBEL CHERIC MOQTADA AL-SADR IS BASED
  • Date: 16th April 2004
  • Summary: (W8) OUTSKIRTS OF NAJAF, IRAQ (APRIL 16, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. U.S. SOLDIERS ON TOP OF A HUMWEE VEHICLE SV/CU: DRIVING THROUGH DESERT OUTSIDE THE CITY OF NAJAF (2 SHOTS) 0.05 2. SOLDIERS DESCENDING FROM THE VEHICLE 0.11 3. U.S. SODLERS SETTING UP ROAD BLOCK 0.15 4. IRAQI MEN BEING SEARCHED (3 SHOTS) 0.24 5. IRAQI MEN LOOKING ON 0.26 6. VARIOUS: VIEWS OF U.S. SOLDIERS AT THE ROAD BLOCK (4 SHOTS) 0.39 7. VARIOUS: U.S. SOLDERS SEARCHING PRIVATE HOUSES ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF NAJAF (8 SHOTS) 1.17 8. SOLDIERS CLIMBING ON TOP OF THE ROOF 1.22 9. LOCAL RESIDENTS WATCHING 1.26 10. LAS/CLOSE OF U.S. SOLDIER ON THE GROUND (PRONE) WITH HIS GUN POINTED AT TRAFFIC (2 SHOTS) 1.31 11. CARS AT THE ROAD BLOCK 1.35 12. U.S. SOLDIERS WITH WEAPONS RAISED 1.38 13. GROUP OF IRAQI MEN STANDING ON THEIR KNEES AT GUNPOINT AFTER SADR'S POSTERS WERE FOUND IN THEIR CAR 1.42 14. CLOSE UP POSTERS WITH PICTURE OF MUQTADA AL-SADR 1.46 15. WIDE OF IRAQIS ON THEIR KNEES AT GUNPOINT 1.50 16. CU/SCU: U.S. SOLDIER TELLING THE IRAQI MAN (ENGLISH) "TO SUPPORT GUYS LIKE THIS WILL MAKE HIS COUNTRY ONLY WORSE." (2 SHOTS) 1.57 17. TRACK: PATROL DRIVING OFF 2.01 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 1st May 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: OUTSKIRTS OF NAJAF, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVABCYYITT0TD2X574BY3VS0TO2K
  • Story Text: U.S. military continue patrols outside the Shi'ite
    shrine city of Najaf where rebel cleric Moqtada
    al-Sadr is based.


    Shi'ite guerrillas clashed with U.S. troops
    patrolling the exclusion zone outside the city of Najaf and
    the town of Kufa on Friday (April 16) as their leader,
    rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, defied demands that he
    disband his militia to spare Iraq's shrine cities from
    bloodshed.

    Sadr, who launched a Shi'ite uprising this month
    against the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq, is holed up in
    Najaf with U.S.forces poised outside vowing to kill or
    capture him.

    Sadr's Mehdi Army took control of parts of Najaf after
    clashes with foreign troops earlier this month. The
    uprising spread to several other cities in central and
    southern Iraq.

    At least five Iraqis were killed and 20 wounded in the
    clashes on Friday. One U.S. soldier was seriously wounded.

    A U.S. tank was hit with the rocket propelled grenade.

    Meanwhile other U.S. patrols have set up temporary
    road blocks and searched private houses for weapons. The
    U.S. military, with 2,500 troops near Najaf, says the
    Sadr's Mehdi Army must be disbanded or destroyed, but they
    have allowed Shi'ite clerics and an Iranian envoy to
    mediate. U.S. troops have reinforced Spanish and Polish
    soldiers in the area around Najaf.

    There was no sign military action was imminent in
    Najaf, home to some of Shi'ite Islam's holiest shrines. Any
    attack in Najaf could inflame Iraq's Shi'ite majority whose
    support is vital to U.S. plans for the country's political
    future.




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