IRAQ: IRAQI FORCES ADVANCE NEARER IMAN -ALI SHRINE IN NAJAF/ DEFENCE MINISTER CALLS ON IRAQI REBELS TO SURRENDER

Record ID: 649303

  • Title: IRAQ: IRAQI FORCES ADVANCE NEARER IMAN -ALI SHRINE IN NAJAF/ DEFENCE MINISTER CALLS ON IRAQI REBELS TO SURRENDER
  • Date: 24th August 2004
  • Summary: (W5) NAJAF, IRAQ (AUGUST 24, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF STREET 0.07 2. WIDE OF IRAQI SOLDIERS RUNNING TOWARDS SHRINE ALONG OLD CITY STREETS WITH GUNS AND MORTARS 0.20 3. SLV SOLDIERS TAKING COVER IN DOORWAYS 0.29 4. SLV SOLDIER FIRING WEAPON, ON CORNER OF STREET 0.36 5. SLV SOLDIER RUNNING ALONG STREET JOINING OTHER SOLDIERS IN COVER OF DOORWAY 0.49 6. VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS PATROLLING STREET 1.02 7. SLV TWO SOLDIERS TAKING COVER BESIDE WALL 1.08 (U3) NAJAF, IRAQ (AUGUST 24, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 8. WIDE OF TWO PEOPLE WALKING ALONG STREET (AUDIO OF GUNFIRE) 1.15 9. TOP VIEWS OVER CITY/ AUDIO OF GUNFIRE, SMOKE 1.20 10. WIDE OF PEOPLE TAKING COVER ON STREET CORNER (AUDIO OF FIRING) 1.27 11. WIDE OF DESERTED STREET (AUDIO OF GUNFIRE) 1.34 12. WIDE OF DAMAGED BUILDING 1.40 (W4) LATIFIYA, SOUTH OF BAGHDAD, IRAQ (AUGUST 24, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 13. TRAVELLING SHOT OF PLUME OF SMOKE RISING FROM BURNING TRUCK AND AMBULANCE 1.48 14. WIDE OF TRUCK AND AMBULANCE ON FIRE/ SMOKE 1.55 15. TRAVELLING SHOT OF TRUCK ON FIRE 2.00 16. VARIOUS OF VEHICLES ON FIRE IN ROAD 2.33 (W4) NAJAF, IRAQ (AUGUST 24, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 17. SLV CAR ARRIVING/ INTERIM DEFENCE MINISTER HAZIM AL-SHALAAN GETTING S OUT/ SHAKKING HANDS 2.44 18. WIDE OF PODIUM 2.49 19. SCU SOUNDBITE (Arabic) AL-SHALAAN SAYING: "Today a large Iraqi force will get near the Shrine or near the courtyard and will wait for the signal to storm it or else the elements (Mehdi Army fighters) surrender to the Iraqi forces to protect the lives and the lives of the people with them." 3.27 20. SLV IRAQI NATIONAL GUARD WITH FLAG 3.33 21. SLV AL-SHALAAN WALKING 3.38 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 8th September 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NAJAF/LATIFIYA, SOUTH OF BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVAQVQMDXHYPX3W2W886FCWL4N4
  • Story Text: Iraqi security forces advance to within 400 metres
    of Najaf's Imam Ali shrine. Iraqi defence minister warns
    Shi'ite rebels to surrender.




    Iraqi security forces advanced to within 400 metres
    of Najaf's Imam Ali shrine on Tuesday (August 24), a
    Reuters witness said.

    The forces, numbering around 50, moved towards the
    shrine after Iraq's government warned Shi'ite rebels to
    surrender or face attack later on Tuesday.

    "God willing, we'll be moving in tonight," a commander
    of one of the Iraqi units told Reuters, adding that around
    500 Iraqi troops had been deployed to the area, the first
    time government forces have entered the battle zone.

    Tuesday's ultimatum from Iraq's interim defence
    minister was the latest in a series of threats to militia
    loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, which has been
    fighting American marines around the mosque for three
    weeks.

    U.S. warplanes pounded Shi'ite rebel militia positions
    overnight in the southern city, trying to break the will of
    rebels loyal to al-Sadr who are holed up in a sacred
    shrine.

    Large plumes of black smoke rose into the sky and heavy
    gunfire echoed around narrow alleyways near the Imam Ali
    mosque.

    Several mortar bombs landed near the Imam Ali mosque
    after dawn following the fierce U.S. overnight raids.

    U.S. marines have tightened their grip around roads
    leading to the shrine, where militants have fought a
    three-week rebellion presenting Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad
    Allawi with his sternest test yet.

    Insurgents attacked a truck and an ambulance taking aid
    to the besieged city, killing two people and setting the
    vehicles on fire, a Reuters witness said.

    Reuters cameraman Alaa Saad said from the scene that
    the vehicles were attacked near Latifiya south of Baghdad on Tuesday
    (August 24). He saw two bodies inside the ambulance.

    A religious official co-ordinating aid for Najaf said a
    truck and an ambulance taking supplies from Baghdad to the
    southern city had been attacked but had no further details.

    Iraq's interim defence minister warned Shi'ite rebels
    besieged in Najaf's Imam Ali shrine to surrender or face an
    attack later on Tuesday that would "wipe them out".

    "Today a large Iraqi force will get near the Shrine or
    near the courtyard and will wait for the signal to storm it
    or else the elements (Mehdi Army fighters) surrender to the
    Iraqi forces to protect the lives and the lives of the
    people with them," intrim Defence Minister Hazim al-Shalaan
    said at a U.S. military base outside Najaf.


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