IRAQ: U.S.-led military operation continues for fifth day near Samarra while leading influential Sunni Muslim Clerics Association condemns operation

Record ID: 872610

  • Title: IRAQ: U.S.-led military operation continues for fifth day near Samarra while leading influential Sunni Muslim Clerics Association condemns operation
  • Date: 21st March 2006
  • Summary: (BN12) BAGHDAD , IRAQ (MARCH 20 , 2006) (REUTERS) MEMBERS OF THE MUSLIM CLERICS ASSOCIATION ATTENDING NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ABDUL SALAM AL-KUBAISI, SPOKESMAN OF THE MUSLIM CLERICS ASSOCIATION SAYING: "The military offensives that the U.S. forces launched against number of Iraqi cities with the support of the Iraqi government forces reveal a fact that is that the U.S. forces did not learn from their previous mistakes, going too far in ignoring the will of Iraqis who seek nothing but to be free of the U.S. domination." MEMBERS OF THE MUSLIM CLERICS ASSOCIATION IN NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 5th April 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • City:
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Defence / Military,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA9JVIL0UFV5VOUDM6E382IP6Q0
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: The U.S. military forces continued 'Operation Swarmer', a heavily publicised offensive launched in a rural area, about 15 km (10 miles) square, near Samarra, north of Baghdad, and what it calls the biggest 'air assault' since just after the invasion.
    There have been neither casualties nor any fighting in the assault, which has involved troop-carrying helicopters rather than bombing raids.
    A U.S. military statement said more than 60 suspected insurgents had been captured.
    The offensive is using 1,500 Iraqi and American troops, 200 assault vehicles, and 50 aircraft and was expected to last for several days.
    Meanwhile, Iraq's influential Sunni Muslim Clerics Association criticised the military offensives that the US forces has launched against number of Iraqi cities, saying the US forces should put a timetable for their withdrawal from Iraq.
    "The military offensives that the U.S. forces launched against number of Iraqi cities with the support of the Iraqi government forces reveal a fact that is that the U.S. forces did not learn from their previous mistakes, going too far in ignoring the will of Iraqis who seek nothing but to be free of the U.S. domination," said Abdul Salam al-Kubaisi, spokesman of the Muslim Clerics Association in Iraq.
    A Sunni Arab insurgency against the U.S.-sponsored interim government threatens to expand into a bloody sectarian conflict between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunnis.
    Hundreds of people have been killed -- many of them tortured, shot and their bodies dumped in the streets of Baghdad -- since the bombing of a major Shi'ite mosque on February 22.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register