lennart
05-04-04, 13:58
Apaches swoop on Shia militiamen
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40005000/jpg/_40005193_dance-ap-203x300body.jpg
Police joined the militants' protest in Basra
US helicopter gunships have been firing at targets in a Shia Muslim district of Baghdad on the second day of a revolt by a religious militia.
Supporters of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr have been involved in violent protests in at least four Iraqi cities.
His militia have tried to seize key sites across the country; the coalition says it will not be tolerated.
US troops also began an offensive in Falluja, a Sunni town where four Americans were mutilated last week.
The protests were triggered by the closure of Mr Sadr's main newspaper a week ago; they intensified after the arrest on Saturday of one of his top aides, Mustafa Yacoubi.
US administrator Paul Bremer
Many of Iraq's majority Shia Muslims, repressed under Saddam Hussein, welcomed last year's US-led invasion and attacks on coalition forces were largely confined to the minority Sunni community before Sunday's violence.
However Mr Sadr has become an increasingly outspoken opponent of the occupation.
The US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, said on Monday that Mr Sadr's followers had effectively placed themselves outside the law.
Ambush
Apache gunships targeted militiamen of Mr Sadr's Mehdi Army on the streets of the capital's mainly Shia district of al-Shuala as a battle raged on the ground, correspondents report.
One US vehicle was reported to be in flames but there were no immediate reports of casualties.
Local resident Abbas Amid told AFP news agency that fighting had flared up after a US troop convoy tried to enter Shuala and came under heavy fire.
In an unconfirmed claim, the witness said that local coalition-backed paramilitaries had sided with the militia and turned their guns on the Americans.
In Basra, about 150 Mehdi Army members occupied the governor's office at dawn on Monday as part of the protests but said they were staging a peaceful sit-in and met no resistance.
Monday's protests come after a day of bloody violence between Mr Sadr's followers and coalition forces in Shia areas of the country:
[.] Eight US soldiers were killed in Baghdad's Sadr City area in battles with the Mehdi Army which left a reported 22 Iraqis also dead
[.] A coalition soldier from El Salvador and one from the US were killed along with about 20 Iraqis in clashes near the holy city of Najaf
[.]Four Iraqis were killed in clashes with UK forces in the south-eastern city of Amara, reports say
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3599771.stm
Shi'as die worden aangevallen uit de lucht door helicopters... Dat zal velen toch wel de mooie herinneren terugbrengen van 1991 toen de Amerikanen de Shi'a in de steek lieten zodat Saddam een massamoord kon uitrichten mede dankzij helicopters die gewoon konden vliegen ondanks dat er F-16 straaljagers erboven vlogen.
The End of the Empire is comming.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40005000/jpg/_40005193_dance-ap-203x300body.jpg
Police joined the militants' protest in Basra
US helicopter gunships have been firing at targets in a Shia Muslim district of Baghdad on the second day of a revolt by a religious militia.
Supporters of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr have been involved in violent protests in at least four Iraqi cities.
His militia have tried to seize key sites across the country; the coalition says it will not be tolerated.
US troops also began an offensive in Falluja, a Sunni town where four Americans were mutilated last week.
The protests were triggered by the closure of Mr Sadr's main newspaper a week ago; they intensified after the arrest on Saturday of one of his top aides, Mustafa Yacoubi.
US administrator Paul Bremer
Many of Iraq's majority Shia Muslims, repressed under Saddam Hussein, welcomed last year's US-led invasion and attacks on coalition forces were largely confined to the minority Sunni community before Sunday's violence.
However Mr Sadr has become an increasingly outspoken opponent of the occupation.
The US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, said on Monday that Mr Sadr's followers had effectively placed themselves outside the law.
Ambush
Apache gunships targeted militiamen of Mr Sadr's Mehdi Army on the streets of the capital's mainly Shia district of al-Shuala as a battle raged on the ground, correspondents report.
One US vehicle was reported to be in flames but there were no immediate reports of casualties.
Local resident Abbas Amid told AFP news agency that fighting had flared up after a US troop convoy tried to enter Shuala and came under heavy fire.
In an unconfirmed claim, the witness said that local coalition-backed paramilitaries had sided with the militia and turned their guns on the Americans.
In Basra, about 150 Mehdi Army members occupied the governor's office at dawn on Monday as part of the protests but said they were staging a peaceful sit-in and met no resistance.
Monday's protests come after a day of bloody violence between Mr Sadr's followers and coalition forces in Shia areas of the country:
[.] Eight US soldiers were killed in Baghdad's Sadr City area in battles with the Mehdi Army which left a reported 22 Iraqis also dead
[.] A coalition soldier from El Salvador and one from the US were killed along with about 20 Iraqis in clashes near the holy city of Najaf
[.]Four Iraqis were killed in clashes with UK forces in the south-eastern city of Amara, reports say
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3599771.stm
Shi'as die worden aangevallen uit de lucht door helicopters... Dat zal velen toch wel de mooie herinneren terugbrengen van 1991 toen de Amerikanen de Shi'a in de steek lieten zodat Saddam een massamoord kon uitrichten mede dankzij helicopters die gewoon konden vliegen ondanks dat er F-16 straaljagers erboven vlogen.
The End of the Empire is comming.