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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: CYBERKEN who wrote (562184)	4/9/2004 3:19:55 AM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Kidnaps intensify Iraq strike By LEE KEATH Globe and Mail Update Shia militia forces held all or part of three southern Iraqi cities, and insurgents unveiled an ominous new tactic yesterday, seizing a Canadian aid worker and a host of other foreign hostages. The insurgents threatened to burn three Japanese captives alive unless Tokyo withdrew its troops from Iraq. On the eve of the anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, new flashpoints flared across the country. U.S. officials acknowledged that Shia fighters were in control of all or parts of Kut, Kufa and Najaf in the south, and coalition forces were locked in open urban warfare in the Shia shrine city of Karbala, the Baghdad suburb of Abu Ghraib and the central Sunni town of Fallujah. "We have got Fallujah under siege," Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. general in Iraq, told reporters in Baghdad, as marines spent a second straight day battling for control of a mosque reportedly occupied by insurgents despite heavy U.S. bombing. Prime Minister Paul Martin said Ottawa would refuse any request to participate in a force to protect United Nations staff because the Canadian Forces are too stretched by other missions. But there was a more immediate threat against aid workers in Iraq yesterday: the abduction of 15 foreigners, one a Canadian. Officials and family confirmed that Fadi Ihsan Fadel, a Canadian who was working for the U.S.-based International Rescue Committee, had been abducted in the central Iraq town of Kufa. "We are currently seeking further information on the situation and hope that his release will soon be secured," Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Sameer Ahmed said. Mr. Fadel, born in Syria, had been developing child-care programs in Iraq since February, his brother Ghayas Fadel said from Laval, Que. He said last night the family was preparing a statement for the press. IRC communications director Melissa Winkler said: "Things are rather sensitive, and Fadi's captors are rather unpredictable. We've had to agree for security reasons to only release certain information." The organization said on its website saying the Canadian was "in Iraq solely to assist conflict-affected Iraqi communities. On humanitarian grounds, we appeal to his captors to release him unharmed." In another abduction yesterday, a militant group released a videotape showing three Japanese hostages being held at an unknown location, and threatened to "burn them alive and feed them to the fighters" unless Tokyo pulled out of Iraq within three days. The Japanese government, which is deploying about 1,100 troops on a sensitive non-combat mission to help rebuild Iraq, called the abductions "unforgivable," but said they did not justify a withdrawal. A Briton was abducted in the southern town of Nasiriyah, and two Arab aid workers from Jerusalem were taken in a separate incident. Outside Baghdad, gunmen seized eight South Korean Christian missionaries but later freed them all after one escaped. The newly invigorated two-front insurgency has produced scenes of chaos and violence in Iraq not seen since U.S. forces captured Baghdad a year ago today. In the south yesterday, hard-line Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi militia had full control in the cities of Kut and Kufa and in the central part of Najaf. Police had abandoned their stations. U.S. Lieutenant-General Ricardo Sanchez vowed to move "imminently" to break the Shia hold over Kut, 150 kilometres southeast of Baghdad, and to destroy Mr. al-Sadr's militia in a new operation named Resolute Sword. But the general refused to say whether U.S. forces would move to help troops from coalition allies who have been patrolling the southern half of Iraq. Gen. Sanchez said the presence of thousands of Shia pilgrims in Najaf has been hampering coalition forces from moving against militia fighters who hold key positions. But in Baghdad, U.S. forces have battled nightly with the Mahdi militia in its Sadr City stronghold. Overnight, a U.S. helicopter fired on Mr. al-Sadr's office there. On the Sunni front, U.S. marines battled insurgents firing automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades in Fallujah. Marines called in tanks and warplanes to pound Sunni gunmen at the Abdel-Aziz al-Samarrai mosque for the second night in a row. On Wednesday, U.S. forces seized the building after a six-hour battle, but insurgents returned to the site after it was abandoned overnight. The U.S. military reported the deaths of four infantry soldiers in recent attacks by Sunni insurgents yesterday. Along with a marine killed in Fallujah, that brought the number of U.S. troops killed across Iraq this week to 40. More than 460 Iraqis have died, according to media reports and hospital officials. The turmoil is threatening the country's already shaky security situation as the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority prepares to hand sovereignty by June 30 to an Iraqi government. globeandmail.com