Spoetnik
25-05-05, 17:17
Civil War in Telafar
The Associated Press reports that a car bomb in Baghdad killed 3 US troops, and a drive-by shooting killed a fourth on Tuesday. The deaths brought the three-day total of US military fatalities to 14.
Guerrillas detonated a bomb near a girls' school in Baghdad, killing 6 persons but apparently no students.
Paul Garwood also reports that
"In the northern city of Tal Afar, there were reports that militants were in control and that Shiites and Sunnis were fighting in the streets, a day after two car bombs killed at least 20 people. Police Capt. Ahmed Hashem Taki said Tal Afar was experiencing "civil war." Journalists were blocked from entering the city of 200,000."
Al-Sharq al-Awsat says that a police official in Telafar reported immense loss of life in the violent clashes. The Sunni jihadis are said to have taken over the major hospital. They are being resisted by armed Shiite Turkmen townspeople.
The Turkmen Bloc issued an appeal to Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari and other major political figures, saying that Telafar is ablaze with the flames of the radical anti-Shiite (takfiri) forces that have infiltrated from beyond the border. They added that the city "is a prisoner in the hands of terror." They complained, "Its citizens are exposed to being slaughtered every day." Member of parliament Muhammad Taqi al-Mawla, who belongs to the Turkmen Bloc, called on the government to intervene quickly to save the city. He said that in the current conditions, no child could go to school and no employee could reach the workplace.
This report sent chills down my spine. Major urban Sunni-Shiite violence is likely to spill over to other parts of the country.
http://www.juancole.com/2005/05/14-us-troops-dead-in-3-days-civil-war.html
Dit geweld zal snel overslaan naar Mosul.
Ondertussen zijn Amerikaanse troepen bezig om Haditha onveilig te maken:
Hundreds of US soldiers have swept through the western Iraqi town of Haditha, searching homes and seizing suspected insurgents.
"About 15 [troops] came to my house and searched everything, looking for arms and asking if I knew any insurgents," an academic, Maher Dali, told Reuters.
At least two people are reported to have been killed in fierce gun battles.
The area, 200km (125 miles) north-west of Baghdad, has been the scene of frequent attacks on US-led troops.
An Associated Press report says helicopters dropped US marines near palm groves to block off one side of the town, while other troops established checkpoints and moved into the centre of the city on foot and in armoured vehicles.
"Right now there's a larger threat than should be in Haditha and we're here to tell them that they're not welcome," battalion commander Lt Col Lionel Urquhart told the news agency.
Streets deserted
Residents quoted by Reuters said the town was completely occupied and most people were too frightened to leave their homes.
One resident was witnessed being arrested by US marines for having too much ammunition for a licensed weapon.
The man was blindfolded and had a code number written on his forehead, as his mother and sisters pleaded with the troops and their Iraqi translator to release him.
It is the second major offensive in the western Anbar province to tackle the insurgency, which has claimed more than 600 lives since the new Iraqi government was formed nearly a month ago.
Operation Matador used similar numbers of troops earlier in May to attack suspected insurgents in towns close to the Syrian border.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4578755.stm
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41182000/jpg/_41182285_k203.jpg
Vraag me af wanneer ze beginnen met het tatooeren van nummers.
The Associated Press reports that a car bomb in Baghdad killed 3 US troops, and a drive-by shooting killed a fourth on Tuesday. The deaths brought the three-day total of US military fatalities to 14.
Guerrillas detonated a bomb near a girls' school in Baghdad, killing 6 persons but apparently no students.
Paul Garwood also reports that
"In the northern city of Tal Afar, there were reports that militants were in control and that Shiites and Sunnis were fighting in the streets, a day after two car bombs killed at least 20 people. Police Capt. Ahmed Hashem Taki said Tal Afar was experiencing "civil war." Journalists were blocked from entering the city of 200,000."
Al-Sharq al-Awsat says that a police official in Telafar reported immense loss of life in the violent clashes. The Sunni jihadis are said to have taken over the major hospital. They are being resisted by armed Shiite Turkmen townspeople.
The Turkmen Bloc issued an appeal to Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari and other major political figures, saying that Telafar is ablaze with the flames of the radical anti-Shiite (takfiri) forces that have infiltrated from beyond the border. They added that the city "is a prisoner in the hands of terror." They complained, "Its citizens are exposed to being slaughtered every day." Member of parliament Muhammad Taqi al-Mawla, who belongs to the Turkmen Bloc, called on the government to intervene quickly to save the city. He said that in the current conditions, no child could go to school and no employee could reach the workplace.
This report sent chills down my spine. Major urban Sunni-Shiite violence is likely to spill over to other parts of the country.
http://www.juancole.com/2005/05/14-us-troops-dead-in-3-days-civil-war.html
Dit geweld zal snel overslaan naar Mosul.
Ondertussen zijn Amerikaanse troepen bezig om Haditha onveilig te maken:
Hundreds of US soldiers have swept through the western Iraqi town of Haditha, searching homes and seizing suspected insurgents.
"About 15 [troops] came to my house and searched everything, looking for arms and asking if I knew any insurgents," an academic, Maher Dali, told Reuters.
At least two people are reported to have been killed in fierce gun battles.
The area, 200km (125 miles) north-west of Baghdad, has been the scene of frequent attacks on US-led troops.
An Associated Press report says helicopters dropped US marines near palm groves to block off one side of the town, while other troops established checkpoints and moved into the centre of the city on foot and in armoured vehicles.
"Right now there's a larger threat than should be in Haditha and we're here to tell them that they're not welcome," battalion commander Lt Col Lionel Urquhart told the news agency.
Streets deserted
Residents quoted by Reuters said the town was completely occupied and most people were too frightened to leave their homes.
One resident was witnessed being arrested by US marines for having too much ammunition for a licensed weapon.
The man was blindfolded and had a code number written on his forehead, as his mother and sisters pleaded with the troops and their Iraqi translator to release him.
It is the second major offensive in the western Anbar province to tackle the insurgency, which has claimed more than 600 lives since the new Iraqi government was formed nearly a month ago.
Operation Matador used similar numbers of troops earlier in May to attack suspected insurgents in towns close to the Syrian border.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4578755.stm
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41182000/jpg/_41182285_k203.jpg
Vraag me af wanneer ze beginnen met het tatooeren van nummers.