Posted by NEWS on 17/5/2004, 20:44:42 Members of Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadrs Al-Mahdi army drove Italian forces from a base in the southern city of Nasiriyah yesterday and attacked coalition headquarters there with grenade and mortar fire as tensions in the Shi'ite region escalated. Two Iraqi fighters were killed and 20 were wounded in battles in Nasiriyah, mostly at two bridges across the Euphrates River, residents said. The Italian troops were forced to evacuate as their base came under repeated attack. According to AP, Portuguese police were called in to support the Italians, seeing action for the first time since the force of 128 deployed to Nasiriyah in November. At least 10 Italians were wounded, one of them critically before the Italians relocated to the nearby Tallil air base. Meanwhile, three mortar rounds hit the east Baghdad stronghold of radical Shiite Muslim leader Moqtada Sadr today. It was not immediately clear whether the shells were fired by coalition troops or Sadr's Mehdi Army, which remains in Sadr City. US Surrounds Sadr Stronghold In Baghdad Early Saturday, US occupation command deployed military vehicles around the district of Baghdad nicknamed Madinat as-Sadr, a stronghold of Shii religious leader Muqtada as-Sadr and his Al-Mahdi militia. American tanks took up positions at the main crossroads leading to the city but did not close the streets. Local residents expressed their fears to the Egyptian Middle East News Agency, particularly during Friday night when the Jaysh al-Mahdi appears in the streets and clashes erupt between the US forces carrying out patrols backed by helicopter gunships in the district. Battles raged through the night and into the early morning of Saturday as Al-Mahdi Mujahideen fired mortar shells at the US headquarters in al-Urfili neighborhood in the district. Later on Saturday, residents of the so-called Madinat as-Sadr area of Baghdad buried two Iraqis killed in the American attacks, one of them a first lieutenant in the Iraqi puppet police. An American aggressor patrol called on the people of that neighborhood to surrender their arms to the invaders within a certain set period of time, and residents responded by stoning the American patrol and preventing the invaders from getting into the city. US General Says 21 Iraqis Killed, 10 Wounded In Sadr Fighting According to US Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, American aggressor troops killed 21 Iraqis and wounded 10 more in operations they carried out from late Friday until Saturday in Baghdad. Kimmitt told a press conference on Saturday that most of the Iraqis were killed in the district known as Madinat as-Sadr, the stronghold of Shii religious leader Muqtada as-Sadr. Kimmitt admitted that there were numerous other military engagements in which his occupation troops were involved in an-Nasiriyah and al-Amarah. Kimmitt said that Iraqi Resistance fighters attacked a US aggressor patrol with rocket propelled grenades and automatic weapons. The invaders traded gunfire with the Resistance, Kimmitt reported, claiming that US gunfire killed seven Iraqis in that incident.
Al-Mahdi Army Forces Italians To Retreat; Keeps Pressure On US Forces
May 17, 2004
By Omar Al Faris, JUS, and Muhammad Abu Nasr, Free Arab Voice
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