- BEIRUT (Reuters) - A top
aide to the militant Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on Wednesday that
his supporters had captured a number of soldiers from the U.S.-led coalition
during clashes currently taking place across a large swathe of Iraq.
-
- "Some tribes have captured some occupation forces
on the streets," Qays al-Khazali told a news conference in the Shi'ite
Muslim holy city of Najaf.
-
- He gave no further details. The news conference was broadcast
by Lebanon's al-Manar television station, mouthpiece of the militant Shi'ite
Hizbollah group.
-
- There was no immediate comment on the report from the
command of U.S.-led forces in Baghdad.
-
- Khazali denounced a U.S. military pledge earlier on Wednesday
to destroy Sadr's Mehdi Army militia.
-
- "The Mehdi Army is the Iraqi people and destroying
the Iraqi people is a crime," he said.
-
- Sadr's militia has been battling the occupying forces
across south and central Iraq since Sunday.
- © Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.
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- http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4774974
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