11 weeks to Iraq handover: Death toll rises as Shia confront US forces
By Nicolas Pelham in Baghdad
Published: April 4 2004 15:35 | Last Updated: April 4 2004 19:42
news.ft.com.
Seven US soldiers and at least 20 Shia protesters were killed in fighting across Iraq on Sunday in the US-led coalition force's deadliest confrontation with Shia groups since the invasion of the country a year ago.
The US soldiers were killed fighting Shia militiamen in the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City, the US military said. At least 24 other US troops were wounded.
The soldiers were seeking to evict militiamen loyal to Moqtada Sadr, a clerical firebrand, who were trying to take over police stations and government buildings.
Earlier, coalition troops shot dead at least 20 Shia protesters in Iraq and wounded 140, further eroding their support among a Shia population that had largely welcomed the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
The Spanish-led troops shot protesters marching on their garrison outside Najaf. A soldier from El Salvador was killed in the incident.
"If the reports turned out to be correct, it will be one of the largest firefights" since President George W. Bush declared an end to hostilities, a military spokesman said.
In another incident, troops fired on demonstrators in Baghdad's Firdous Square who were cheering clerical diatribes against the US.
Sunday's gunfire ended coalition restraint in the face of days of protests orchestrated by Mr Sadr and his Mahdi army across central and southern Iraq. In a Friday sermon at his mosque near Najaf, Mr Sadr appealed to his followers to "be on the utmost readiness, and strike them [coalition forces] where you meet them".
His aides interpreted the sermon, repeated in mass prayer gatherings across central and southern Iraq, as a licence to throw stones at coalition targets, formally ending one year of relative Shia quiescence and suggesting that some Shia groups could be joining a Sunni insurgency.
Coalition troops responded by arresting Mr Sadr's assistant, Mustafa Yaqoubi, further antagonising his supporters.
Paul Bremer, the US administrator in Baghdad, said people had "crossed the line and moved to violence". "This will not be tolerated," he said. Critics warned the crackdown would play into the hands of Mr Sadr's propagandists, who are seeking to mobilise the Shias.
Unlike his exiled Islamist rivals, Mr Sadr represents those who endured Mr Hussein's rule and has become a symbol for poor and disenfranchised Iraqis.
The violence overshadowed Mr Bremer's appointment of a defence minister, a key Iraqi demand. He named Ali Alawi, a financier and relative of Ahmed Chalabi and Ayad Alawi, two of the leading politicians on the Governing Council.
How the US will do the handover to fighting tribes?
How does Europe react (they also want the oil now that North Sea oil dried up)?
How the US justify the billions spent and the dead? |
