- Title: IRAQ: HEAVY CLASHES IN SADR CITY
- Date: 22nd September 2004
- Summary: (U4) SADR CITY, BAGHDAD, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 22, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE OF MOKE COMING FROM BRADLEY FIGHTING VEHICLE/ BRADLEY BEING HIT (UNCERTAIN WHAT IT WAS HIT BY)/ EXPLOSION/ SMOKE 0.30 2. VARIOUS OF BRADLEY TANK/ FIGHTING MACHINE ON FIRE/ CLOSE UP OF SMOKE AND FLAMES/ SOLDIERS ON TOP OF VEHICLE 0.40 3. ZOOM INTO SOLDIERS ON TOP OF VEHICLE 0.43 4. WIDE OF IRAQI FLAG 0.46 5. VARIOUS OF SMOKE AND FLAMES BILLOWING FROM BRADLEY BEING TOWED BY U.S. TANK 0.58 6. WIDE OF TANK 1.01 7. VARIOUS OF DAMAGED TANK BEING TOWED ALONG BY US TANK 1.23 8. WIDE OF ANOTHER TANK MOVING ALONG ROAD/ AUDIO OF HEAVY GUNFIRE/ CLOSE OF TANK TRACK ALONG ROAD 1.56 (W4) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 22, 2004) (REUTERS) 9. WIDE OF STREET IN SADR CITY/ AUDIO OF GUNFIRE 2.04 10. WIDE OF FIGHTERS OF MEHDI ARMY ON STREET CORNER/ AUDIO OF GUNFIRE 2.10 11. SLV MILITIAMEN CARRYING RPG LAUNCHERS IN STREET / THUDS OF EXPLOSIONS 2.16 12. WIDE OF MILITIA MEN WITH WEAPONS/ AUDIO OF EXPLOSIONS/ FIRING 2.22 13. SLV MILITIAMAN CARRYING SHOULDER ROCKET CROUCHING IN MIDDLE OF STREET 2.28 14. WIDE OF U.S. TANKS BLOCKING ONE OF STREETS OF CITY/ CRACKLES OF GUNFIRE 2.36 15. VARIOUS OF MILITIAMEN FIRING MORTAR IN STREET 2.46 16. WIDE OF SMOKE IN SKY 2.50 17. WIDE OF U.S. F-16 FLYING OVER CITY 2.57 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 7th October 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SADR CITY, BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA6TVC3YHR0AUA3D1JMC0XV95T5
- Story Text: U.S. fighting vehicle hit in clashes between U.S. forces and gunmen in
Sadr City after U.S. forces launch massive offensive in Baghdad slum.
Heavy clashes continued between U.S. forces and Mehdi army fighters
in Baghdad's Sadr City on Wednesday (September 22, 2004).
A U.S. Bradley fighting vehicle exploded after coming under fire. Smoke
and flames billowed from behind as thuds of explosions shook the area and
crackles of heavy gunfire echoed cross the streets.
U.S. tanks and armoured vehicles rolled into the Shi'ite slum of Sadr
City in the early hours on Wednesday in a major offensive against radical
militia fighters. Witnesses said that U.S. tanks raided the Baghdad Shi'ite Muslim
stronghold as aircraft bombed the area and helicopters flew low overhead.
Thuds of explosions shook the city as crackles of gunfire echoed across
the impoverished city. Fighters of the Mehdi Army, a militia loyal to radical
Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr roamed the streets firing mortars and
rocket-propelled grenades as U.S. tanks could be seen blocking off main
streets.
One local resident said he counted up to two dozen U.S. tanks and other
armoured vehicles on the streets in the western part of Sadr City, a
sprawling, poor neighbourhood to the northeast of Baghdad's city centre where
anti-American insurgents have established large areas of control.
Hospital sources said 22 people had been killed and 71 wounded, but
there was no word from the Americans on the toll.
Sadr City is a sprawling, poor neighbourhood to the northeast of
Baghdad's city centre where anti-American insurgents have established large
areas of control.
The district is a major power base for Moqtada al-Sadr, a young,
radical cleric from the long-oppressed Shi'ite majority whose followers have
fought U.S. troops over recent months.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
