US helicopter shot down as bloody clashes rage
A US helicopter was shot down.
Bloodshed quickly spread to other Shi'te areas, with each side blaming the other in a profound threat to a shaky two-month-old truce. Al-Sadr's men also fought with US troops in the Baghdad neighbourhood of Sadr City, wounding seven Americans; shot at government offices in the southern city of Amarah; and clashed with British forces in Basra, where one militant was killed after troops loyal to Sadr declared a "jihad" on British forces.
"The ceasefire is over because of the actions of the occupation forces, and the situation has started to deteriorate," warned Sheik Abdul Hadi al-Daraji, a spokesman for al-Sadr in Baghdad.
During the fighting in Najaf, a US UH-1 helicopter was hit by gunfire and crashed, injuring the crew, and Iraqis said at least seven militants and seven civilians had been killed and 54 wounded. The US command said insurgents attacked a US convoy near Najaf, killing one American soldier and wounding five.
Also yesterday, a suicide car bombing at a police station in Mahawil, 85km south of Baghdad, killed five people and wounded 27, the Interior Ministry said.
The fighting was the worst flare-up between authorities and al-Sadr's forces since a series of truces two months ago ended weeks of violence that began after the US-led occupation authority closed al-Sadr's newspaper and arrested a key aide. The newspaper was recently allowed to start printing again, but tensions had been rising in recent days between al-Sadr's Mahdi Army and Iraqi and US forces.
People in Najaf said al-Sadr loyalists attacked a police station with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire. US Marines later moved into the area, and busloads of Mahdi Army militants were seen entering the city, residents said.
The fighting killed seven militants and wounded 22, who were captured, the US military said. Seven civilians also were killed and 32 injured, including four policemen, said Youssef Monem, an official at the city's al-Hakeem hospital.
The US command said insurgents attacked the US military convoy outside Najaf with gunfire and a rocket-propelled grenade, killing one American soldier and wounding five. In Baghdad's Sadr City neighbourhood, insurgents fired on a US patrol, triggering gunbattles, said Major Philip Smith, a spokesman for 1st Cavalry Division. Seven US soldiers were wounded.
Al-Daraji, al-Sadr's spokesman, said the fighting broke out in Baghdad because of the violence in Najaf and escalating tensions between US forces and al-Sadr's loyalists.
In Amarah, an appeal for Mahdi Army members to mobilise rang out from mosque loudspeakers and militants took to the streets, shooting at government buildings and blocking roads, residents reported.
An al-Sadr militant was killed and three were wounded after they ambushed a British patrol in Basra, said a local al-Sadr official, As'ad al-Basri.
The Mahdi Army earlier had said it was taking up positions close to where British troops normally patrol after a noon deadline passed in its demand for the release of four al-Sadr supporters detained two days earlier.
The British had not received a formal ultimatum, "only rhetoric," said a British spokesman, Major Ian Clooney. He said the men in custody had been detained for questioning.
An al-Sadr spokesman, Sheikh Assad al-Basri, said the militant group "prepared 1,000 fighters in Basra to confront the British forces who failed to respond to our demands."
Meanwhile, in Mahawil, two gunmen dressed in police uniforms opened fire on guards outside a police station while a third sped toward the station in a vehicle filled with explosives and blew up, killing five people and wounding 27, the Interior Ministry said.
"I was outside the building when I saw a car heading toward us. We started shooting. I'm sure we shot him but he managed to explode the car," said police Captain Adel Omran, whose leg was hit by shrapnel.
"What do these criminals want from Iraqis? They sometimes target the Sunnis, the Shi'ites and the Christians and other times they target the police and the army. They do nothing to the Americans," said civilian Zayd Hadi.
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