IRAQ: ROCKETS DAMAGE SHI'ITE IMAN ALI SHRINE IN NAJAF/ TURKMEN POLITICAN ASSASSINATED IN KIRKUK

Record ID: 648701

  • Title: IRAQ: ROCKETS DAMAGE SHI'ITE IMAN ALI SHRINE IN NAJAF/ TURKMEN POLITICAN ASSASSINATED IN KIRKUK
  • Date: 25th May 2004
  • Summary: (U3) KUFA, IRAQ (MAY 25, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR OF SHOPS DAMAGED IN OVERNIGHT FIGHTING BETWEEN U.S. FORCES AND MILITIA 0.26 2. SLV PEOPLE WALKING IN STREET OUTSIDE 0.32 3. CLOSE OF PEOPLE RIFLING THROUGH DEBRIS 0.38 4. PAN OF HOLE IN WALL FROM BLAST / DAMAGED FURNITURE 0.45 5. SLV MAN HOLDING DEAD PIGEON 0.50 6. CLOSE / SLV OF MAN FLICKING THROUGH PAGES OF KORAN DAMAGED IN BLAST / PAN TO DAMAGE ON FLOOR 1.03 7. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SALEEM SABAH, BARBER, SAYING:"The fighting started at four o'clock in the afternoon and continued until eight. And then clashes started again from 5.30 in the morning until 6 and that has been going on one week in Kufa" 1.21 8. VARIOUS OF MASKED MILITIA IN THE STREETS WITH WEAPONS 1.46 (U3) NAJAF, IRAQ (MAY 2004, (REUTERS) 9. SLV MAN HOLDING SHELLS ALLEGEDLY FIRED AT IMAM ALI MOSQUE/ CLOSE OF SHELLS 2.00 10. SLV MILITIAMAN OUTSIDE MOSQUE MAKING VICTORY GESTURE 2.01 11. WIDE OF MOSQUE ENTRANCE 2.06 12. TOPSHOT OF PEOPLE DEMONSTRATING OUTSIDE MOSQUE COURTYARD 2.12 13. CLOSE OF DAMAGE TO MOSQUE DECORATION 2.17 14. WIDE OF DEMONSTRATION / PEOPLE CHANTING SLOGANS 2.25 15. CLOSE OF BLOOD ON FLOOR OF MOSQUE/SLV MAN LOOKING AT BLOODSTAIN 2.37 16. WIDE OF PEOPLE CHANTING OUTSIDE MOSQUE "AMERICA IS THE ENEMY OF GOD" 2.44 17. SCU MAN BEATING HIS HEAD 2.46 18. WIDE OF PEOPLE CHANTING 2.52 19. SMV INJURED MAN SHOWING INJURY TO ARM AND POINTING AT MOSQUE 3.05 20. SCU CRYING MAN HOLDING ONTO RAILINGS OF MOSQUE 3.12 21. CLOSE OF DAMAGED DECORATION OF MOSQUE 3.16 22. WIDE OF MOSQUE 3.23 (U3) KIRKUK, IRAQ (MAY 25, 2004) (REUTERS) 23. VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF SHOP WHERE LEADING MEMBER OF THE TURKMEN UNION PARTY AHMED NAJM AL-DIN WAS KILLED. HE SOLD MEDICAL INSTRUMENTS 3.36 24. SLV BOY LOOKING AT DAMAGE INSIDE ROOM 3.42 25. CLOSE OF SOFA AND BLOOD ON CARPET 3.48 26. CLOSE OF DAMAGED WALL OF ROOM 3.54 27. SLV CONVOY OF VEHICLES WITH AL-DIN'S BODY LEAVING HOSPITAL 4.04 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 9th June 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KUFA, NAJAF, AND KIRKUK, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA4O25J2H1978Q3WZLTZOITO362
  • Story Text: Rockets damage holy Shi'ite shrine in Najaf after
    dawn clashes in Kufa. Senior politician representing
    Turkmen population assassinated in Kirkuk.




    The Imam Ali shrine in Najaf, the holiest Shi'ite
    site in Iraq, was damaged on Tuesday (May 25) by missiles
    or mortars, witnesses said - a development likely to spark
    outrage among Iraq's Shi'ite majority.

    One of the entrances to the shrine was damaged in the
    attack. It was not clear who fired the missiles. U.S.

    forces have been fighting Shi'ite militiamen loyal to rebel
    cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Najaf and other Shi'ite areas.

    In nearby Kufa, U.S. tanks were in action before dawn,
    battling Shi'ite Mehdi Army fighters around the town of
    Kufa.

    At least 11 people were killed and 22 wounded, hospital
    staff in Kufa and the nearby holy city of Najaf said.

    Guerrillas fired rockets and grenades at U.S. forces around
    Kufa.

    Radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr launched the
    uprising last month against the U.S. occupation. A sharp
    U.S. offensive in recent days has contained the fighting to
    the Najaf area.

    A leading member of the Turkmen Union Party was killed
    in a drive-by shooting in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk
    on Monday (May 24).

    Police said Ahmed Najm al-Din had been shot dead late
    on Monday night as he left the shop where he worked in the
    tense city.

    Najm al-Din is the latest of several political figures
    attacked or assassinated by gunmen in Kirkuk, a wealthy
    oil-rich city north of Baghdad that has seen a steady
    increase in violence in recent months.

    The city is claimed by Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen and
    ethnic tension appears to be at the root of most of the
    violence. There
    are an estimated one million Turkish-speaking Turkmen in
    Iraq, most of them living in the north, close to the
    Turkish border.


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