IRAQ: US and Iraqi forces kill 13 gunmen in Baghdad battles; symbolic funeral held for Sadr aide, farmers demonstrate against Americans

Record ID: 783299

  • Title: IRAQ: US and Iraqi forces kill 13 gunmen in Baghdad battles; symbolic funeral held for Sadr aide, farmers demonstrate against Americans
  • Date: 12th April 2008
  • Summary: MOURNERS CARRYING BLACK BANNER WHILE WALKING IN FUNERAL PROCESSION FOR MURDERED AIDE OF MOQTADA AL-SADR MOURNERS CARRYING SYMBOLIC COFFIN MORE OF MOURNERS CARRYING SYMBOLIC COFFIN MOURNERS CARRYING PHOTOS OF THE SLAIN AIDE MOURNERS BEATING CHESTS/ CARRYING SYMBOLIC COFFIN WIDE OF MOURNERS/ FUNERAL TENT
  • Embargoed: 27th April 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVAAV0W8ZJ0JW3BTRTVYRYNDZWFI
  • Story Text: U.S. and Iraqi forces kill at least 13 gunmen in Baghdad's Sadr City, where a symbolic funeral is held for an aide to Moqtada al-Sadr, while elsewhere in the city demonstrators protest against the U.S. presence in Iraq.
    U.S. and Iraqi forces killed at least 13 gunmen in battles overnight in Baghdad's Sadr City, the U.S. military said on Saturday (April 12).
    A military statement described a "complex" battle in the eastern Baghdad slum, a stronghold of fighters loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, which has been blockaded by U.S. and Iraqi forces for two weeks.
    U.S. forces fired at least one Hellfire missile from drone aircraft and two rounds from the main battle gun of an M1 tank against fighters who targeted them with roadside bombs, rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, the military statement said.
    Sadr City has been the scene of clashes all week. A Reuters correspondent in the area said locals described the overnight battles as the heaviest since government forces launched an offensive into the slum on April
    A symbolic funeral was held in the shi'ite slum for an aide to Sadr, Riyadh al-Nuri, who was killed by gunmen in the southern Shi'ite city of Najaf on Friday.
    Nearly three thousand Sadr supporters participated in the procession, carrying a symbolic coffin for the slain aide al-Nuri.
    Elsewhere in Baghdad, around 200 demonstrators took to the streets in the Karrada district of central Baghdad, protesting against the U.S. presence in Iraq and attacks on what were said to be peaceful areas.
    The demonstrators carried banners and chanted anti U.S. slogans.
    Sheikh Abu Talib al-Amin, secretary-general of Iraqi farmers organisation, condemned attacks on what he said were peaceful areas in Baghdad, considering it a big mistake that has been committed against the Iraqis.
    "The Iraqi people were expecting good things and reformation when the U.S. forces invaded Iraq. We thought that they would solve all the troubles that we suffered from. Now, we can see different things. When they impose a blockade on an area, killing its people, that means that they are not going to give a chance to oppressed people to express their opinions," he said.
    The Sadr City fighting and fierce battles in the southern city of Basra between security forces and Sadr's Mehdi Army militia late last month have thrust the Iraq war back onto the centre stage of the U.S. presidential campaign.
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