- BAGHDAD (IslamOnline.net)
- As fighting kept raging in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf between US occupation
forces and Mehdi Army fighters, loyal to firebrand Shiite leader Moqtada
Sadr, Sunni and Shiite leaders slammed what they saw as a "bloodbath"
and called upon the international community to step in to rein the Americans.
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- This came as Iraqi Interim Prime Minster Iyad Allawi
arrived Sunday, August 8, in war-torn Najaf and called on fighters loyal
to Sadr to leave the city as soon as possible.
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- Commenting on the escalating fighting in Najaf dragging
on for the fourth day running, Shiite and Sunni leaders slammed what they
said were "horrific practices" of the occupation forces against
the Iraqi citizens in the Shiite holy city and elsewhere across Iraq.
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- "Such incidents are similar to the days of the former
regime when Saddam Hussein used to commit mass killings while they (the
Americans) make public funerals" the Association of Muslim Scholars
press spokesman sheikh Mohamed Bashar Al-Faidi told IslamOnline.net.
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- Al-Faidi branded as "genocide and barbaric"
the practices of the American forces in Najaf and all across other Iraqi
cities, noting that the Americans are using "terrorism" against
the Iraqi people to stop resistance against the occupation forces.
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- The Muslim Brotherhood, for its part, condemned the terrible
practices of the American forces in Iraq.
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- The group said in a statement, a copy of which was obtained
by IslamOnline.net, that occupation was the main reason behind the ongoing
state of violence and chaos in the war-torn country.
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- The Shiite Political Council also described the practices
of the occupation forces in Iraq as aiming to harm the Iraqi national unity,
not only Sadr loyalists.
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- The council called for taking specific steps to bring
an end to the ongoing aggressions of the occupation forces against the
Iraqi citizens, including boycotting the Iraqi national conference, due
in mid-August, if a peaceful solution to current aggressions was not reached.
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- Najaf has been the scene of almost daily clashes between
some 2,500 US troops and Sadr supporters.
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- Surprise Visit
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- In a surprise visit to Najaf Sunday, Allawi called Mahdi
Army fighters to leave the city as soon as possible.
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- "We hope that this thing ends as soon as possible,"
Reuters news agency quoted Allawi as saying.
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- "I believe gunmen should leave the holy sites ...
quickly, lay down their weapons and return to the rule of order and law."
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- Allawi had signed Saturday, August 7, a 30-day amnesty
law, in a step seen as a bid to persuade the resistance groups to lie down
arms against the occupation forces.
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- The amnesty law came on the third day of bloody clashes
that erupted in Najaf between the US-led occupation forces and the Mahdi
Army.
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- The US military had said Friday that 300 fighters of
the Mahdi Army, loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada Al Sadr were killed in the
bloody clashes with the US forces erupted in the Iraqi city of Najaf ,
a claim which was denied by the Mahdi army.
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- The latest clashes of Najaf are described as the worst
since a truce deal was stricken between the US forces and the Mahdi Army.
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- "The amnesty covers those Iraqis who have not committed
killings, who have been deceived into joining the resistance and who are
now convinced that they made a mistake. We welcome them," said Georges
Sada, spokesman for Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.
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- "Anyone who committed the crime of murder will not
be covered by the amnesty."
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- Iraqi officials had said the amnesty might extend to
those who killed US and other occupation troops. US officials said an early
draft contained ambiguous language on that issue, but later drafts ruled
it out.
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- News reports have implied that the US forces were seeking
to eradicate Sadr forces in Najaf once and for all, citing Iraq 's highest-ranking
Shiite scholar, <http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-08/07/article07.shtml>Grand
Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, suddenly leaving for London for "heart treatment"
Friday.
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