- BAGHDAD - The deputy governor
of the restive Iraqi city of An-Najaf resigned on Thursday, August 12,
in protest at the 'terrorist' acts of the US occupation forces as deadly
raids into the holy city has left hundreds of Shiite fighters and civilians
killed.
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- Jawdat Kazem Al-Kurashi said in a statement carried by
Aljazeera satellite channel that he could not wait and see his homeland
and Shiite holy shrines being desecrated by US forces.
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- "I strongly condemn such terrorist acts [of the
US forces], which badly damaged our holy city and killed hundreds of civilians,"
he said.
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- Thousands of US forces stormed An-Najaf early on Thursday
in a full-scale assault against Mahdi Army of Shiite leader Moqtada Al-Sadr,
whose followers have been battling occupation forces for eight consecutive
days.
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- An-Najaf fighting is part of a Shiite uprising in several
cities across central and southern Iraq. It is the second rebellion from
the Mahdi Army in four months.
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- An-Najaf Governor Adnan Al-Zofri said on August 6 that
US occupation forces killed 400 Iraqis and detained 1,000 others in the
bloody clashes that erupted a day earlier.
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- The bloodbath in the holy city seemed to have pit Iraqi
officials against one another, who differed on how to end the crisis in
An-Najaf.
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- Iraq's interim deputy president Ibrahim Al-Jaafari urged
Wednesday US troops to leave An-Najaf.
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- "I call for multinational forces to leave An-Najaf
and for only Iraqi forces to remain there," Jaafari said in remarks
broadcast on Al-Jazeera television.
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- "Iraqi forces can administer An-Najaf to end this
phenomenon of violence in this city that is holy to all Muslims."
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- Sadr renewed Wednesday his call for his supporters to
keep fighting US occupation forces even if he was killed or captured.
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- "Keep fighting even if you see me a prisoner or
a martyr. God willing you will be victorious."
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- 165 Killed
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- The Iraqi health ministry said on Thursday that clashes
across war-torn Iraq have left 165 people dead and nearly 600 wounded in
the last 24 hours.
-
- A ministry spokeswoman said 75 people were killed and
148 wounded from US bombing in the Shiite dominated Al-Sharkiya district
of Kut, while 44 died and 164 were wounded in Baghdad clashes, mostly in
the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
-
- She said the fighting at An-Najaf left 25 dead and 153
wounded, while 14 were killed and 77 wounded in Amara, and clashes in Diwaniya
left seven dead and 52 wounded.
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- Sunni and Shiite leaders have slammed the bloodbath and
called upon the international community to rein in the Americans.
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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," Spokesman for the Sunni Muslim Scholars
Association Bashar Al-Faidi.
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- http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-08/12/article02.shtml
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