Iraq Update Options

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Militias keep grip on 3 Iraq cities
By Thanassis Cambanis, Globe Staff, 4/9/2004

BAGHDAD -- Shi'ite militias maintained their hold on three Iraqi cities yesterday, as the US military announced five more troop deaths in the fighting that has raged across the country since the weekend. The Iraqi death toll was estimated at 460, more than half of them in the Sunni stronghold of Fallujah.

In a new strategy to pressure international military allies of the United States here, insurgents kidnapped 13 foreigners, including eight South Korean missionaries who were later released unharmed. One group, calling itself the Mujahedeen Brigades, released a videotape to Al Jazeera television showing a rebel holding a knife to the throat of one of three Japanese hostages. The previously unknown group demanded that Japan withdraw its 550 troops from Iraq, which the Japanese government immediately rejected.

US Marines advanced deeper into Fallujah, but did not take control of the insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad despite fierce fighting yesterday. Meanwhile, Shi'ite militias ruled the streets in Kut, Kufa, and Najaf, and battled Spanish troops in Karbala.

Amid increasing evidence that Sunni guerrillas and Shi'ite militias are sharing supplies and training, fighters attacked a US convoy just west of the capital, in Abu Ghraib, and the Mahdi Army continued to engage in nightly battles with US troops in the Shi'ite slum of Sadr City.

Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, commander of all forces in Iraq, said the US-led coalition would retake the cities of Najaf and Kut, would rout guerrillas in Fallujah, and would destroy the Mahdi Army, the militia controlled by cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

"I don't see any shadows of Vietnam here in Iraq," he said.

Sanchez did not rule out sending extra troops to the formerly quiet south to bolster coalition partners such as Ukraine, Spain, Bulgaria and Poland as they confront the Mahdi Army.

"We will do whatever is necessary to defeat Moqtada al-Sadr's forces wherever they are on the battlefield," Sanchez said.

As the fighting raged, new details emerged about the grisly killings of four American contractors in Fallujah last week, suggesting the ambush may not have been a random attack. The New York Times today quoted an executive with the security firm that employed the contractors as saying they were lured into a carefully planned assault by men they believed to be members of Iraq's Civil Defense Corps.

Patrick Toohey of Blackwater USA said an investigation found that the Iraqi men promised the company's convoy safe passage through the restive city. Instead, they blocked off the road and prevented any escape from waiting attackers, Toohey told the Times.

Meanwhile, the US strategy to increase the Iraqi role in security appeared in doubt as Interior Minister Nouri Badran unexpectedly resigned yesterday.

Badran, a Shi'ite, announced he was resigning to accommodate Iraq's US administrator, L. Paul Bremer III, who wants religious balance in the Cabinet and had just appointed a Shi'ite defense minister.

But an aide to a senior Iraqi Governing Council member said yesterday that Badran had been asked to resign because of his "dismal" job in building a new Iraqi police force. Since the weekend, Iraqi police have ceded control of many cities to insurgents, and in many places have switched sides, with some police assisting the Mahdi Army in its fight against occupation forces in Najaf, Karbala, Sadr City, and several Shi'ite neighborhoods in Baghdad.

A delegation of Shi'ite members of the Iraqi Governing Council traveled to Najaf and met with senior clerics in an attempt to broker a peaceful settlement in the fight between the Mahdi Army and coalition forces.

The United States has insisted that Sadr surrender or face arrest on a murder warrant issued in August. But the Shi'ite parties, including the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, have suggested a compromise that would keep Sadr out of jail if he called down his militia.

The Mahdi Army has proven unexpectedly resilient. Sanchez yesterday described it as a poorly disciplined force with minimal military training, and estimated its size at 4,000 to 6,000 fighters.

Since Sunday, however, Mahdi fighters have battled coalition forces doggedly on several fronts.

In Karbala, where millions of Shi'ite pilgrims are expected to converge from today until Sunday for the Arba'in holiday, hundreds of Mahdi fighters attacked the municipal hall in an all-night firefight.

Polish and Bulgarian soldiers killed nine attackers, a spokesman told the Associated Press, before finally driving off the attack just before dawn. The other holy Shi'ite city, Najaf, has been out of the coalition's control since the weekend, but Sanchez emphasized that troops remained on the city's outskirts and were taking care not to inflame tensions at the climax of the 40-day observance that is the most important religious period for the Muslim sect.

"We are very, very cognizant as a coalition of the religious observances that are ongoing right now, and the holy shrine status, and the special status of the city of Najaf," he said. Both Bremer and Sanchez warned that they expected terrorist attacks against the pilgrims marching to Karbala.

Kut remained in the hands of Sadr's men after the Ukrainians withdrew two days ago. "We will retake the city of Al Kut imminently," Sanchez said.

Overnight, a US helicopter struck the Sadr City headquarters of the Mahdi Army, partially destroying some walls that were rebuilt by yesterday afternoon. In the suburb of Shu'ala, a US armored vehicle drove through the outer wall of another Sadr office that has been at the center of fierce fighting since Monday.

"We had given orders for calm because we are peaceful people, and there were negotiations to calm the situation," said Amr al-Husseini, a spokesman for Sadr. "But after they bombarded our headquarters . . . we are ready to resume combat until the last drop of our blood."

The Associated Press reported the death toll from the fighting across Iraq since the weekend at 460 Iraqis, 40 Americans, one Ukrainian, and one Salvadoran.

Truckloads of aid from Shi'ite and Sunni areas of Baghdad flowed to Fallujah, and several Mahdi leaders said they had sent fighters to help the besieged city. An official in the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq said he had received reports of Sunni fighters from Fallujah traveling this week to Sadr City to train Mahdi fighters in ambush and bomb-making techniques.

Handbills distributed in Shi'ite areas of Baghdad, signed by the "Sunni Sons of Iraq," called for the sects to put aside their differences and "make the earth shake beneath the feet of the Americans."

Sanchez yesterday acknowledged the cross-pollination involving the traditional rivals, which could create enormous problems for US-led forces here.

"We believe there is a linkage that may be occurring at the very lowest levels between the Sunni and the Shi'a, and we have to work very hard to ensure that it remains at the tactical level," Sanchez said. "But that's not surprising."

Thanassis Cambanis can be reached at tcambanis@globe.com.

© Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company

http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/..._3_iraq_cities/

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Iraq Abduction Puts Japan Gov't in Crisis
1 hour, 23 minutes ago

Ruling party officials vowed not to give in to terrorists and reiterated that Japanese soldiers would continue their humanitarian mission in Iraq. Koizumi denounced as "cowardly" the Iraqi captors' threat to burn the three civilian hostages alive unless Tokyo gives in.

Thousands massed near the prime minister's official residence and held a candlelight vigil for captive aid workers Noriaki Imai, 18, and Nahoko Takato, 34; and photojournalist Soichiro Koriyama, 32.

"As a parent, it would be just unbearable to see my child being burned alive, if that really happens," Koriyama's mother Kimiko said at a news conference.

"Time is running out," said Ayako Inoue, Takato's younger sister. "My uneasiness and anxiety grows as the time passes."

In a video obtained by Associated Press Television News, four masked men threaten the blindfolded captives with guns and knives. The Arab TV network Al-Jazeera also received the video and said it was accompanied by a statement saying the hostages would be burned alive if Japan's troops were not pulled from Iraq within three days.

Koizumi pushed forward with the deployment of 1,100 troops to Iraq this year despite deep public reservations about sending Japanese soldiers to a combat zone for the first time since World War II.

Critics said dispatching troops to Iraq violated Japan's pacifist constitution, which bans the use of force to resolve disputes. Many Japanese also said they feared the troops could come under attack and suffer casualties, something Japan's military has not experienced since 1945.

Nearly 2,000 people turned out for the candlelight vigil in the heart of Tokyo's political district, shouting "Defense troops, withdraw right now!" Three thousand more activists demonstrated at nearby Hibiya park.

Opposition leaders said they want to help Koizumi bring the captives home safely, but would hold him liable for the outcome.

"We foresaw trouble like this when the government decided to send troops to Iraq," said Katsuya Okada, secretary-general of the Democratic Party. "Prime Minister Koizumi bears a serious responsibility for inviting a situation like this."

Tokyo's stock average declined amid worries the crisis could destabilize Koizumi's leadership.

"If you're willing to assume something bad happens, then the public will be very upset and Koizumi and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party will be exceptionally vulnerable," said John Richards, Japan Strategist at Barclays Capital. "Just the feel of that is bad for stocks."

Koizumi called an emergency meeting of his Cabinet and created a task force to formulate a response to the kidnappings. Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) visits this weekend, and the prime minister is expected to make a strong request for help.

To protect against further kidnappings, the government has started preparing for the possible evacuation by C-130 military transport plane of some 70 Japanese believed to be in Iraq, Kyodo News agency reported.

Twenty-one Japanese journalists and their support staff have sought refuge in the Japanese military compound in southern Iraq. The troops have offered to transport them to Kuwait.

"We cannot give in to the cowardly threats of terrorists," Koizumi said. But he added: "We don't know who this group is. Right now what we need to do is gather accurate information and bring them (the hostages) home safely."

The government has had no contact with the hostage-takers. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda stressed that going along with the withdrawal demand was not under consideration.

Many Japanese voiced support for Koizumi.

"Japan should not give in to this kind of terrorism," said Koichi Yoshida, a 43-year-old executive in Tokyo. "Japan has international responsibilities and national interests that are served by the military's presence there."

Jiro Yamaguchi, a political science professor at Hokkaido University, said the public now supports Koizumi's tough stand. But he said public opinion could be swayed by what happens.

"If Koizumi missteps, he will lose his grip on power," Yamaguchi said. "It all depends on what happens to public emotion."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...q_kidnappings_1

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Iraq Shiite radical tells Bush to withdraw troops or face revolution
Fri Apr 9,11:19 AM ET Add U.S. National - AFP to My Yahoo!

KUFA, Iraq (AFP) - Outlawed Shiite Muslim radical leader Moqtada Sadr branded US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) an "enemy" and told him to withdraw his troops from Iraq (news - web sites) or face a revolution.

The cleric, whose supporters have held firm against the US-led coalition across central and southern Iraq, also began a hunger strike as aides said the coalition's civil administrator Paul Bremer had ruled out peace talks.

"I address my enemy Bush. You are now fighting an entire nation, from south to north, from east to west, and we advise you to withdraw from Iraq," he said in a message read by one of his aides at the main mosque in this central town.

"I call on America not to confront the Iraqi revolution," said the message read by Sheikh Jaber al-Khafagi to worshippers gathered for the main weekly prayers in this shrine town, a Sadr stronghold.

Sadr also announced that he and his followers "have laid the foundation stone of the state of the Mehdi" a reference to Al-Mehdi Al-Montazer, or the "hidden imam", the 12th and last revered leader of the Shiite Muslims who disappeared in 907 AD.

A central belief of Shiites, who make up the majority in Iraq, is that Mehdi is the sole legitimate ruler and no political action should be taken in his absence.

Sadr had been expected to deliver the weekly sermon himself as usual but Khafagi said he was "unable to be with us today".

Another Sadr aide, Hassan Haidari, later told AFP that the rebel leader "did not come to the prayer in Kufa because he is observing a sit-in and has begun a hunger strike in protest at the American massacres" in Iraq.

Earlier this week, Sadr, who has been outlawed by the US-led coalition after being charged with two counts of murder by an Iraqi investigating magistrate, barricaded himself inside the Kufa mosque.

But he ended his sit-in on Tuesday and left for the nearby pilgrimage city of Najaf where he is holed up at an undisclosed location.

Haidar also revealed that mediation bids to solve the crisis between Sadr and the coalition had been rejected by the country's US overseer.

"We are ready for discussions but Bremer is opposed to it," he said.

In his message to worshippers, Sadr warned Bush that unless he removed his troops from Iraq, "you will lose the (November presidential) elections you are now struggling for".

He also warned that Iraqis who failed to heed his call to fight the US-led occupation would "burn in hell".

"All faithful Iraqi men and women who have heard my call (to join) the struggle and do not heed it, will burn in hell ... and will be an outlaw," his message said.

The message was also full of praise for his Mehdi Army militia, saying it had "proven its ability, heroism and organisation day after day".

Earlier this week the Mehdi Army fought fierce battles with Italian coalition troops in the southern city of Nasiriyah when they took control of three key bridges in the Shiite city.

The militiamen agreed early Wednesday to pull out and hand over their positions to police.

The militiamen also seized control of the central Iraqi Shiite city of Kut after pushing Ukrainian troops from its center, but were driven out again by US troops who recaptured the town early Friday.

"After my death, the fate of the Mehdi Army will be decided by Imam Mehdi," Sadr said in his message.

He also accused members of the coalition-installed interim Governing Council of being "traitors".

As Khafagi read the statement, the hundreds of worshippers in the mosque's courtyard interrupted him with deafening cries of "Long live Sadr" and "America and the (Governing) Council are atheists".

A banner on the mosque wall read: "No, No to the Great Satan America".

Militia members armed with shoulder-held rocket launchers and rocket-propelled grenades manned checkpoints amid tight security in Kufa.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...rn_040409151906

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Russia calls on US to halt latest offensive in Iraq
Fri Apr 9,10:26 AM ET Add Mideast - AFP to My Yahoo!

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia called on US-led forces to halt their offensive against Iraqi insurgents and refrain from the "disproportionate" use of force in the war-torn nation.

"Russia calls for an end to military operations and restraint," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement Friday.

It said a key UN Security Council resolution on Iraq (news - web sites) forbids "the indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...ll_040409142645

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Iraq insurgents say seize four Italians, two Americans

(Updated at 2350 PST)
ABU GHRAIB, IRAQ: Insurgents in Iraq said they had seized four Italians and two Americans on the western outskirts of Baghdad on Friday.

A Reuters journalist saw two captive foreigners, said by the insurgents to be Italians, in a mosque in a village in the Abu Ghraib district. One had been wounded in the shoulder. Both were weeping.

jang.com.pk

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Second Iraqi interim minister resigns: coalition
(Updated at 2140 PST)

BAGHDAD: Iraqi interim human rights minister Abdel Basit Turki has resigned, a day after the interior minister quit, senior coalition spokesman Dan Senor told a news conference here Friday.

jang.com.pk

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British national killed in Iraq: Foreign Office
(Updated at 2110 PST)

LONDON: A British national has been killed in Iraq, a Foreign Office spokesman said on Friday, without giving further details.

jang.com.pk

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Five US soldiers killed in Iraq skirmishes in past two days: Centcom
(Updated at 1320 PST)

WASHINGTON: Five US soldiers, including two Marines, have been killed in separate skirmishes with insurgents across Iraq in the past two days, the US army said in a statement, a foreign news agency reported on Friday.

US Central Command said a sixth soldier also died from wounds sustained April 4 during a bomb attack on an army convoy in Mosul, northern Iraq.

jang.com.pk

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Iraq: Shiite forces on major public buildings
(Updated at 1215 PST)

BAGHDAD: US forces evacuated police stations and the town hall in the capital's largest Shiite Muslim neighbourhood of Sadr City overnight, after five days of clashes with radical militiamen, a foreign news agency reported on Friday.

US troops had abandoned the Sadr City central police headquarters as well as the Al-Karama, al-Sadr, al-Rafidain, al-Nasr, al-Thawra and al-Tahdid stations. No US troops were visible at the town hall on the district's main thoroughfare, where clashes have raged since Sunday between US troops and militiamen loyal to outlawed Shiite radical leader Moqtada Sadr.

jang.com.pk

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Hamas chief addresses Gaza demonstration backing Iraqis
(Updated at 0940 PST)

GAZA CITY: Abdelaziz al-Rantissi, leader of the radical Palestinian group Hamas, led a demonstration here in support of Iraqis, comparing their struggle against "American terrorism" with the Palestinian struggle against Israel, a foreign news agency reported on Friday.

"We want to tell you that we are with you. Here, we fight the terrorism of Israel and you fight American terrorism," Rantissi told a crowd of 1,000. "You will win and I hope your enemies will be defeated quickly," he added, branding US President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "enemies of Islam".

jang.com.pk

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Insurgents grapple main highway between western Iraq towns
(Updated at 2110 PST)

ABU GHARIB, IRAQ: Armed insurgents Friday seized control of the highway linking the predominantly Sunni Muslim town of Abu Gharib with the besieged city of Fallujah further west of Baghdad, sources informed.

jang.com.pk

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Iraq's stability crumbling at rapid pace
By staff writers and wires

THE situation in Iraq appears to be going from bad to worse, with a key Iraqi minister resigning his position as coalition forces still battle for control in key cities.

A wounded US soldier is tended to by his colleagues in Fallujah.

Nuri al-Badran, a Shi'ite Muslim, said he wanted to quit from the Iraq Governing Council to maintain a balance of Iraq's religious groups on the Cabinet.

But the news came as a bitter blow to US administrator to Iraq Paul Bremer, who said al-Badran's removal would only cause an imbalance and he would not let him go.

"The only solution is for you to step down from your position," Mr Bremer told the minister, which he duly did.

"I consider myself to have resigned," al-Badran told reporters, adding that Mr Bremer was disatisfied with his work.

His resignation comes as US-led coalition forces are battling an uprising across the south by a Shiite militia led by radical cleric Moqtada Sadr.

Radical militia apparently have control of at least two southern Iraqi cities, but their days are numbered, according to the top US general in the country, Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez.

Lt Gen Sanchez said coalition forces will move soon to break their hold in an operation dubbed "Resolute Sword".

He said it appeared there are links "at the lowest levels" between the Shiite militia - which has been battling coalition forces in at least a half-dozen southern cities this week - and Sunni Arab insurgents who have long fought US troops in central Iraq.

Lt Gen Sanchez acknowledged that the al-Mahdi Army militia, led by Sadr, had full control over the city of Kut and partial control in Najaf. Ukrainian troops were forced to withdraw from their bases in Kut yesterday.

"We will retake the city of Kut imminently," Sanchez told reporters in Baghdad.

But he suggested that the presence of hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims in Najaf for a religious occasion this weekend was hampering coalition forces from moving against militiamen there.

"We are very cognisant of the religious ceremonies," he said, perhaps remembering the boilover that occurred there some months ago when US forces tried unsuccessfully to move through the sacred town.

Militiamen also control Kufa, holding police stations and government buildings in the town, according to residents.

US allies, though, are resisting pressure to pull out of Iraq, where some of the fiercest fighting since Baghdad was captured Saddam Hussein toppled one year ago rages on.

Hospital sources quoted by the Al-Jazeera satellite channel in the Gulf state of Qatar said 105 people had been killed in Fallujah and more than 200 wounded in two days of fighting that has escalated since the gruesome killings of US contractors there last week.

One US marine was also reported killed in the fighting.

Armed insurgents also attacked a US military convoy 20km west of Baghdad on the road to Fallujah, sealed off by US forces hunting down the killers of those contractors.

Gunmen were seen dancing around two burning vehicles, but no casualty figures were immediately available.

Thousands of Iraqis meanwhile forced their way through a checkpoint on the Fallujah road, most on foot followed by cars full of food and medical supplies for residents of the besieged city.

Sadr's militia claimed it had taken an unspecified number of hostages, most of them Spanish but also "possibly a US soldier" earlier and it wanted to exchange them for one of its leaders, Mustafa al-Yaacubi, arrested by US forces for the murder of a rival pro-American cleric last year.

Spanish military "categorically" denied that any of its soldiers had been captured. There was no immediate reaction from the US.

Spain is potentially the weakest link in the 155,000-strong US-led occupying force in Iraq, since its incoming government's pledge to pull troops out of Iraq by June 30.

Australia committed 2000 troops in March last year and still has 850 in and around Iraq, and Prime Minister John Howard is locked in a war of words with Opposition Leader Mark Latham over the best course of action from here, Mr Howard against Mr Latham's wish to bring them al home.

Drawing comparisons with the Vietnam war, where Australia also gave the United States military support, Mr Latham said there was a danger that troops would "get drawn so far in they don't know how to get out".

Mr Howard said such a comparison was "politically inspired, historically inaccurate and designed not to help but to hinder", and said Latham's promise to bring the troops home by Christmas if elected was irresponsible.

But former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser, who was defence minister at the height of the Vietnam conflict, said the comparison stood up.

"In both cases, you had a largely American army, not completely but largely, trying to support or establish a state in a country that was foreign and alien to them," Fraser told ABC radio.

"It's not just the Shiites that came out in force, or one section of the Shiites, it's not just the Sunnis, it's not just the loyalists to Saddam Hussein, it's Iraqis who want America out," he said.

Sadr's militia, estimated by the US military to number 3000, has issued an ultimatum to coalition forces to quit the holy city of Karbala where a major religious celebration are scheduled this weekend.

Sadr's chief of staff in Karbala, Sheikh Hamza Al-Tai, said: "We are ready to make a gift to Imam Hussein (who is venerated as a martyr by Shiites) by purifying this land of all occupation forces."

With The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0...255E401,00.html

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Anger Grows on Iraqi Governing Council
Fri Apr 9, 2:00 PM ET

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Anger grew Friday among U.S.-picked Iraqi leaders over the Marines' bloody siege of Fallujah, with one member of the Governing Council suspending his membership and another threatening to quit.

Friday's halt in the assault had been requested by the council to allow for talks on reducing the violence, a U.S. spokesman said.

Several of the council's 25 members spoke out against what they called the "mass punishment" of Fallujah's people in the siege, launched early Monday by U.S. forces to uproot Sunni insurgents in the city.

Ghazi al-Yawer, a Sunni member, and the representative of another Sunni member met Friday with city leaders in talks at a Marine base outside Fallujah, council member Mahmoud Othman told The Associated Press.

"We have been asked by members of the Iraqi Governing Council to have the opportunity to enter into Fallujah to speak with leaders of Fallujah to address ways in which bloodshed could be minimized," U.S. coalition spokesman Dan Senor said.

The council request for negotiations pointed to the eagerness of the Iraqi leaders to distance themselves from the assault, which has angered many Iraqis and become for some a symbol of resistance against the Americans.

Shiite council member Abdul-Karim Mahmoud al-Mohammedawi has formally suspended his membership, Othman said.

Al-Yawer said that while he has not taken any formal steps, "I will quit if the problem is not solved peacefully, because God will not bless a position of power that does not benefit its people."

"If negotiations fail because of the stubbornness of the American side or the failure to adhere to a cease-fire, I will quit 100 percent," he told Al-Jazeera TV.

One of the strongest pro-U.S. voices on the council, Adnan Pachachi, denounced the U.S. siege, launched after Sunni insurgents killed four U.S. contract workers and a mob dragged their burned and mutilated bodies through the streets and hung two of them from a bridge.

"These (U.S.) operations were a mass punishment for the people of Fallujah," Pachachi told Al-Arabiya TV. "It was not right to punish all the people of Fallujah and we consider these operations by the Americans unacceptable and illegal."

Added al-Yawer: "We all agree that those who did that (killed the four Americans) were criminals who deserve to be arrested. But the result was the mass punishment of a city. ... And that we refuse."

Asked about the council members' criticism, Senor said U.S.. forces have "a responsibility to address a situation that is hostile."

He said the coalition cannot "just turn our heads and look the other way" when Americans are killed in Fallujah.

yahoo.com

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2-Briton killed in Iraq: UK Foreign Office

LONDON: A British man working for a US security company in Iraq has been shot dead, the Foreign Office and relatives said, a foreign news agency reported on Saturday.

"A Briton has been killed in Iraq. I can confirm his name is Michael Bloss," the spokeswoman informed. Bloss, 38, was working for Virginia-based security firm Custer Battles. The company said he was guarding electrical contractors in the town of Hit, about 120 miles (200 kms) west of Baghdad, when the group was ambushed.

http://www.hipakistan.com/en/detail.php?ne...=&f_type=source

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US tank, truck hit in attacks near Baghdad airport

April 10: A US Abrams tank and a trailer truck were on fire after two separate attacks near Baghdad airport today, an AFP photographer on the scene said. The tank was left burning at the al-Aadel crossroad on the way to the airport, he said. US troops cordoned off the area, preventing journalists from approaching. Nearby, a trailer truck, which was part of a US military convoy, was hit earlier today by a rocket-propelled grenade, witnesses said. Insurgents fired into the air to prevent fire-fighters from extinguishing the blaze, the witnesses said. (AFP)

http://www.hipakistan.com/en/detail.php?ne...=&f_type=source

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US commander wants more troops for Iraq

WASHINGTON, April 10: The top commander in the Persian Gulf has decided he needs more troops in Iraq but is determined to find them among forces already deployed in his region of operation, The Washington Times reported today. Citing unnamed senior defense officials, the newspaper said General John Abizaid, head of the US Central Command, would likely rely on troops that would have left Iraq in May and from forces stationed in Kuwait. (AFP)

http://www.hipakistan.com/en/detail.php?ne...=&f_type=source

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Tough week in Iraq for coalition forces: Powell

WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Colin Powell said in a televised interview that the United States had experienced a "tough week" in Iraq as insurgents mounted rebellions against US forces across the country and American casualties mounted.

Powell said the United States was still committed to handing Iraq's sovereignty over to an interim Iraqi government on June 30, and he voiced confidence that US forces would stamp out the multiple rebellions.

http://www.hipakistan.com/en/detail.php?ne...=&f_type=source

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Two German government workers missing in Iraq

BERLIN: Two German government security workers have been missing in Iraq for several days, the German foreign ministry informed on Saturday, confirming earlier television reports.

"Two civil servants working for the German mission in Baghdad have been missing for the past few days," a ministry spokeswoman said. "There is no evidence to suggest it is a hostage-taking."

http://www.hipakistan.com/en/detail.php?ne...=&f_type=source

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Hostage crisis dominates Cheney’s Japan trip

US Vice President Dick Cheney has arrived in Tokyo for talks with Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi likely to be dominated by the kidnapping of three Japanese civilians in Iraq.

Cheney is expected on Saturday to reassure Japan, a key US ally in Asia, that it should keep its forces in Iraq despite the kidnappers' threats to murder the hostages unless Japan withdraws its 550 grounds troops. The troops are there to purify water and help in reconstructing schools.

He is also likely to discuss the North Korean nuclear issue and Tokyo's ban on US beef in his first official visit to Japan, which was postponed from a year ago due to the Iraq war.

Cheney's arrival comes just over 24 hours before the expiry of the deadline set by the hostage takers, a group calling themselves the Saraya al-Mujahidiin, for Japan to pull out of Iraq.

Protests continue

The group has warned it will execute aid workers Noriaki Imai, Nahoko Takato and freelance photojournalist Soichiro Koriyama unless its demands are met by 9:00pm Japan time on Sunday (12:00 GMT).

Koizumi, facing his toughest political test, has vowed not to pull the troops out of the southern Iraqi city of Samawa despite appeals from the hostages' families, but some analysts say mishandling the crisis could bring down his government.


This is the second day of protests
in Japan


The US welcomed Japan's decision to keep its troops in Iraq despite the threats. The US State Department said Washington was working with Tokyo to locate the Japanese hostages.

Before Cheney's visit about 1000 protesters rallied near Koizumi's office urging Japan to pull its troops out of Iraq to save the lives of the three hostages.

Japan was stunned on Thursday after Aljazeera television aired a chilling videotape of the hostages at the feet of heavily armed men.

The three are Imai,18, who had planned to look into the effects of depleted uranium weapons; female aid worker Takato, 34; and Koriyama, 32.

Emergency office

Meanwhile, Japan opened an emergency office at its diplomatic mission in Jordan to coordinate rescue efforts for the hostages, said a Japanese Embassy official on Saturday.

A government task force led by Senior Vice Foreign Minister Ichiro Aisawa, Koizumi's special envoy, arrived early on Saturday in the Jordanian capital Amman, said the embassy's deputy chief of mission Jun Yoshida.

Aisawa was scheduled to meet acting Jordanian Foreign Minister Amjad Majali.

The task force will try to locate the three hostages and assemble the facts of the kidnapping, the Kyodo news agency reported.

Details of the kidnapping remain sketchy and it is unclear where or when they were captured.

Tokyo's controversial troop deployment to Iraq is its first mission since World War Two. Critics said dispatching troops to Iraq violates Japan's pacifist constitution, which bans the use of force to resolve international disputes.

Many Japanese also said they feared the troops could come under attack and suffer casualties, something Japan's military has not experienced since 1945.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/898...3B8A555F19B.htm

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US soldiers, civilians missing near Baghdad

Two US occupation soldiers have been reported missing after an attack on their convoy near Baghdad by Iraqi resistance fighters.

The US military on Friday said an unknown number of US civilian contractors were also missing following the attack. Witnesses said the convoy included US military vehicles and fuel tankers.

"There are two soldiers missing as a result of an attack on the convoy today … the attack occurred right around Baghdad International Airport," US military spokesman Justin McCue said on Friday.

Eye-witnesses

The assault on the soldiers' convoy took place about 12.25 pm local time. Locals said at least nine people had been killed in the attack.

McCue said it was currently unknown if the soldiers had been abducted.

Earlier during the day, US Central Command said a member of the 13th Corps Support Command had been killed and 12 wounded in an attack on their convoy near Baghdad International Airport.

It is believed the missing soldiers and the contractors were part of the same convoy.

US television channel CNN also reported several American civilians were unaccounted for in Iraq.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/EDD...856204BC07C.htm

[pakistan_forever]

Two Die When U.S. Copter Downed in Iraq

FALLUJAH, Iraq - Gunmen shot down a U.S. attack helicopter during fighting in western Baghdad on Sunday, killing its two crew members. Insurgents and Marines called a cease-fire in the besieged city of Fallujah, but the fragile peace was shaken by shootings that wounded two Americans.

Smoke rose on Baghdad's western edge where the AH-64 Apache helicopter was downed by ground fire in the morning. More helicopters circled overhead, while U.S. troops closed off the main highway — a key supply route into the capital.

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told a news briefing Sunday that the two-member crew was killed and a quick-reaction team was collecting the bodies.

Heavy firing was heard, and tanks and Humvees moved into the area near the suburb of Abu Ghraib, where masked gunmen have wreaked havoc for the past three days, attacking fuel convoys and blowing up tanker trucks. Insurgents kidnapped an American civilian and killed a U.S. soldier in the area Friday.

The captors of Thomas Hammil, a Mississippi native who works for a U.S. contractor in Iraq (news - web sites), threatened to kill and burn him unless U.S. troops end their assault on Fallujah, west of Baghdad, by 6 a.m. Sunday. The deadline passed with no word on Hammil's fate.

Video footage aired on Arabic television Sunday showed the bodies of two dead Westerners — possibly a pair of Americans seen by APTN cameramen on Friday being dragged out of a car on the Abu Ghraib highway, in a different incident from Hammil's kidnapping.

The video showed the bodies surrounded by gunmen, who say the two were American intelligence officers. One of the bodies lay sprawled on the pavement, his face bloodied and his right leg drenched in blood. The other body has his shirt lifted to reveal a bullet hole in his back. Both wore dark T-shirts and khaki pants often worn by private contractors.

Other insurgents who kidnapped two Japanese men and a woman said Saturday they would free their captives within 24 hours because of an appeal from Sunni clerics. But the two aid workers and a photojournalist had still not been released by Sunday evening, according to a Japanese Embassy official in Baghdad, Hiroyuki Oura.

Also Sunday, Germany's Foreign Ministry said two security agents for the German Embassy in Iraq are probably dead four days after their convoy was ambushed near Fallujah.

Fallujah — 35 miles west of Baghdad — saw occasional sniper fire Sunday, but was the quietest it has been all week. Sunni insurgents and Marines agreed to a cease-fire that started early Sunday and will last until the evening amid talks between Iraqi officials on how to end the violence.

Members of the Iraqi Governing Council were holding a second day of negotiations with city representatives Sunday in an attempt to win the handover of Iraqis who killed and mutilated four American civilians on March 31 and of other militants.

Hundreds of U.S. reinforcements moved in place on the city edge, joining 1,200 Marines and nearly 900 Iraqi security forces already involved in the fighting.

The most serious break in Sunday's peace came when a sniper opened fire on U.S. patrol, wounding two Marines, commanders said. In the ensuing gunbattle, at least one insurgent was killed.

"They are not playing by the rules, sir," Marine Capt. Jason Smith radioed to his commander after taking fire in another incident in which the troops did not fire back.

Sunday was the first that gunmen have said they were joining the halt in offensive operations that Marines have largely stuck to unilaterally since noon Friday.

"At the moment we're just trying to get the cease-fire in place," L. Paul Bremer, the top U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq, said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "What were trying to do is simply get the forces to stop firing."

About a third of the city's population of 200,000 fled Friday and Saturday, though Marines turned back any military-age men trying to leave, said Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne, commander of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment.

During the lull, Marines distributed food to residents.

"Families are holed up in houses. They have been told to stay inside. But they are running out of water and food," said Marine Capt. Jason Smith, 30, from Baton Rogue, La.

In fighting across the country over the past week — including in Fallujah and in the uprising by the militia of radical Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the south — 47 American soldiers and more than 550 Iraqis have been killed. At least 649 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003.

In southern Iraq, some 1.5 million Shiite pilgrims marked one of their holiest religious days, al-Arbaeen. In the city of Karbala, hundreds of Shiite militiamen — but no police — patrolled the street preparing for a possible U.S. assault against rebellious followers of al-Sadr.

U.S. commanders have suggested they will move against al-Sadr, whose militia has control of Karbala and two other cities, after the al-Arbaeen ceremonies, which mark the end of a 40-day mourning period for a 7th-century martyred Shiite saint.

In other violence:

_ Gunmen ambushed Iraqi police before dawn Sunday in the northern city of Kirkuk, sparking a battle joined by U.S. troops. Four attackers were killed, said Iraqi Col. Sarhad Qadir.

_ Insurgents attacked two Iraqi police patrols in Mosul on Saturday in fights that killed two Iraqi police, a gunman and two passers-by, according to the hospital.

_ Armed men clashed with U.S. soldiers in the Sunni neighborhood of al-Azamiyah in Baghdad on Saturday. Four Iraqis were killed.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/a...e_mi_ea/iraq_71

[pakistan_forever]

Unit of new Iraqi army refuses to fight in Fallujah: report

WASHINGTON, (AFP) - A battalion of the new Iraqi army refused to go to Fallujah earlier this week to support US Marines battling for control of the city, The Washington Post reports.

Citing senior US Army officers in Baghdad, the newspaper said the incident is casting new doubt on US plans to transfer security matters to Iraqi forces.

The 620-man 2nd Battalion of the Iraqi Armed Forces refused to fight Monday after members of the unit were shot at in a Shiite Muslim neighborhood in Baghdad while en route to Fallujah, said The Post, quoting US Army Major General Paul Eaton.

The convoy then turned around and returned to the battalion's base in Taji, north of the Iraqi capital.

The paper quotes Eaton as saying members of the battalion insisted that they "did not sign up to fight Iraqis."

The general, who is overseeing the development of Iraqi security forces, declined to characterize the incident as a mutiny, but rather called it "a command failure," the report said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...my_040411080408

[pakistan_forever]

Sadr urges Iraqis to unite behind his banned militia

KARBALA, Iraq (AFP) - Firebrand Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr urged Iraqis to unite behind his banned Mehdi Army militia and said it would free them from the US-led occupation.

"The army is for oppressed people fighting for their rights and holy institutions and is marching towards liberating you from occupation," he said in a signed message posted on a bulletin board outside the shrine of Imam Hussein in the holy city of Karbala.

"So my brothers unite and support each other and let us begin the liberation," said Sadr, who is wanted in connection with the murder of a rival, pro-US cleric last year.

He called for a popular uprising that would include all ethnic groups.

"The army is the people's army and I am just a member of the Iraqi people," said Sadr, who has also been holed up in the nearby holy city of Najaf since Tuesday.

"My brothers in Najaf and all other provinces I want to tell you that pooling the little resources we have away from oppression and occupation will be the beginning of putting our house in order," said the message.

He also called for an end to the "savage attacks on the people of Fallujah," where a 12-hour ceasefire was in effect Sunday after days of fighting between US Marines and insurgents claimed hundreds of lives.

Tens of thousands of Shiites flocked to Karbala on Sunday to commemorate the death of revered Imam Hussein about 14 centuries ago here.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...dr_040411123236

[pakistan_forever]

British Hostage Released to U.S.-Led Forces in Iraq

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - British civilian Gary Teeley, seized by militants in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya last week, was handed over to coalition forces in the same city on Sunday, a senior coalition source said.

"He is in the hands of American and Italian forces in Nassiriya as we speak. We'll be making sure that he is flown out of the country and back to Britain as soon as possible," the source said.

Asked about his condition, the source said: "He's alright."


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...raq_briton_dc_1

[pakistan_forever]

Kuwaiti group condemns US assault

A Kuwaiti group has condemned as "brutal and savage" a US assault on Falluja and other Iraqi towns even as its prime minister said his country fears violence in Iraq may lead to its break-up and stir trouble in neighbourhood.

The Salafi Movement, a Sunni group, said on Sunday in a statement to Aljazeera that the movement "rejects all brutal and savage acts against the Iraqi people in Fallujah, Ramadi, Najaf, Karbala and other cities in occupied Iraq."

It urged all "Arab and Muslim people to provide moral and material support to the Iraqi people until they achieve victory and secure liberation from their enemy," the statement added.

The group, known for its anti-American stance, urged the Kuwaiti government to "stand with the Iraqi people", in line with the principles of "Arab nationalism and Islamic sharia law."

It also declared as "forbidden" all forms of support and backing provided to the US-led occupation forces and called on Kuwaitis not to cooperate "with the occupation troops and companies providing supplies to it."

Rejecting foreign troops

The group's spokesman, Husayn al-Saaidi, said the statement was consistent with the movement's "position rejecting the presence of foreign troops in the Arabian Peninsula, including Kuwait."

"Now, the reasons for the US (military) presence in the region
no longer exist. Foreign presence does not help achieve stability in the region," which boasts more than half of the world's proven oil reserves, al-Saaidi told AFP.

Some 25,000 US troops are permanently stationed in Kuwait which is used by the United States as the main transit point for the rotation of its troops in Iraq.

Washington led an international coalition that drove Iraqi
troops from the emirate in February 1991 after a seven-month occupation.

Kuwait served as the main launchpad for the invasion of Iraq
last year that ousted the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Fear of violence

"Now, the reasons for the US (military) presence in the region no longer exist. Foreign presence does not help achieve stability in the region," which boasts more than half of the world's proven oil reserves."

Husayn al-Saaidi,
Salafi Movement spokesperson

Also on Sunday, Kuwait's prime minister said his country fears violence in Iraq may lead to its break-up and could stir trouble in neighbouring states.

"I fear the escalation of matters in Iraq towards collapse if things continue as they are," Shaikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah was quoted by leading daily al-Rai al-Aam as saying on Saturday.

The prime minister said Washington should reconsider its
30 June deadline to transfer sovereignty to Iraqis, al-Anbaa
newspaper reported.

"It will subject Iraq to break-up if Washington insists on
sticking to the deadline of the handover of power to the Iraqi
government as it will not be able to take charge," he said.

"God knows what will be the result, which will impact us
since we are neighbours."

Spilling over

Shaikh Sabah also said he feared the situation could spill
over into neighbouring countries, including his own and again
warned against any attempts to incite sectarian conflict between Kuwait's majority Sunnis and minority Shia Muslims.

Shia in Kuwait were angered at the January arrest of local shia activist Yasir al-Habib who was convicted of insulting Prophet Muhammad's companions in an audio tape. Many say the issue was exacerbated by a rise in tension between Sunnis and Shia in Iraq.

"We noticed the first signs of (sectarian) trouble began
when things developed in Iraq. Our geographic location is
sensitive and dictates that we be careful always," al-Rai al-Aam quoted the premier as saying.

"If sectarianism is inflamed (it) will burn those who started it and then it will burn everybody," he added, repeating remarks made last week.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/421...50741A98481.htm

[pakistan_forever]

Al-Sadr calls on Kuwait to expel US base

Sadr told the Kuwaitis not to keep silent

Iraqi Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr has called on the Kuwaitis to expel the US military base from their land.

"I call on our neighbour Kuwait to ask that American and other bases be removed so that this state may stand hand in hand with us to remove the big nightmare and great Satan from Iraq, whose people are suffering from the occupation," Sadr said in a statement, made available to Aljazeera.

"You cannot keep silent about these crimes and you must help your brothers by removing terrorism from your land," said the statement written in Arabic.

It said Kuwait, which borders Iraq to the south, no longer needed US troops now that Saddam Hussein had been ousted.

Sadr's militia has been battling US-led occupying forces across south and central Iraq since Sunday.

Around 25,000 US troops are stationed in Kuwait, a key US ally, but their number can fluctuate with rotation of troops from Iraq. Kuwait also hosts other occupation forces.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/23B...4B98B5E386A.htm

[pakistan_forever]

Occupation troops suffer more casualties

Resistance attacks are getting frequent and fierce

US-led occupation forces have suffered more casualties in Iraq with emboldened resistance fighters continuing to mount fierce attacks.

Aljazeera's correspondent in the southern Iraqi province of Maisan reported that "several" British soldiers were killed in an artillery attack on a military base late on Saturday night.

A number of military vehicles were also destroyed in the attack.

Airman killed

Also during the day, a US airman was killed and two wounded in a mortar attack on a US airbase at the Balad airbase, 70km north of Baghdad.

"A mortar attack occurred at approximately 12.20 am today at Balad Air Base, killing one airman and injuring two others," the US Central Command said in a statement.

"One airman is in serious condition at the Army Combat Support Hospital, and the other was treated and released," the statement added.

The latest death brought to 456 the number of US troops killed in combat since the start of the war in Iraq.

With resistance at an all-time high, US troops in particular have suffered heavy losses during the past one week in Iraq.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A04...D623149A8F5.htm

[pakistan_forever]

Aljazeera airs tape of dead 'CIA men'

Aljazeera channel has aired a video tape showing two dead bodies, with the voiceover claiming they were that of CIA men killed in Falluja.

The tape, aired on Sunday, showed marks of gunshots on the bodies and a number of Iraqis surrounding them. It also showed a damaged car, which the narrator claimed belonged to the dead men.

On Saturday, Aljazeera aired a tape showing a US detainee kidnapped by a group called al-Mujahidiin during an attack on a US convoy.

The captive, Thomas Hamil, is an American working for a private company supporting the military operation.

The convoy, transporting supplies and fuel, was attacked on the Baghdad-Falluja highway on Friday.

The captive said on the tape that he was the only member of the convoy to escape death. He said he was being treated well.

Aljazeera also aired an audio tape from the kidnappers. "Up to now your prisoner is being dealt with in the tolerant manner specified by Islamic law. Our one request is to break the siege of the city of the mosques (in Falluja) during the 12 hours from six o'clock on Saturday evening," the kidnappers said.

"If not, he will be dealt with worse that those who were
killed and burned in Falluja," they added.

Hostages

Hamil works for a company
supporting the military operation

A number of people of different nationalities have been reportedly kidnapped in Iraq.

Three Japanese, a Palestinian and a Canadian of Syrian origin are all confirmed to having been kidnapped. All of them, except a Japanese freelance photojournalist, are aid workers.

Another seven South Korean pastors were also taken hostage before being released.

Meanwhile, a Briton who went missing in the southern city of Nasiriya six days ago was released on Sunday, reported Aljazeera's correspondent Hamid al-Shutri.

Gary Teeley, 37, was released after tribal leaders in the area negotiated with captors. Teeley, an employee of the International Qatar Company in Baghdad, was handed over to occupation authorities.

Two German security officials who disappeared after coming under attack while travelling from Jordan to Baghdad last week have probably been killed, a German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said on Sunday.

The two had been on their way to the German embassy in
Baghdad when their convoy was attacked on Wednesday. The incident was not made public until Saturday.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/645...2BA1FDC9F1C.htm