Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Media: AFP
Byline: n/a
Date: 21 October 2006
Body:
AMARA, Iraq, Oct 21, 2006 (AFP) - Calm returned to this southern Iraqi city
on Saturday after two days of violent clashes between government security
forces and Shiite militia fighters.
Armed militiamen quit the streets overnight, police returned to duty and
life was slowly returning to normal in Amara, an overwhelmingly Shiite city
of around 350,000 people.
Clashes erupted on Thursday after police arrested a member of radical
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army and accused him of planting a bomb
which killed a senior intelligence officer.
Some 200 to 300 Mahdi Army fighters attacked and burned two police stations
and besieged the force's local headquarters, triggering street battles in
which at least 18 people died and 97 were wounded.
The Iraqi army sent reinforcements to the town and British forces, which
have overall security responsibility in southern Iraq, put a 600-strong
battle group on stand-by to intervene.
But Sadr, who has been trying to find a political rather than a military
path to power, quickly called on his supporters to stand down and sent
aides to the city to negotiate a ceasefire with police.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki also sent a ministerial delegation. Both
negotiating teams were still in Amara on Saturday, but there was no
immediate word on the terms of the apparent truce.
Byline: n/a
Date: 21 October 2006
Body:
AMARA, Iraq, Oct 21, 2006 (AFP) - Calm returned to this southern Iraqi city
on Saturday after two days of violent clashes between government security
forces and Shiite militia fighters.
Armed militiamen quit the streets overnight, police returned to duty and
life was slowly returning to normal in Amara, an overwhelmingly Shiite city
of around 350,000 people.
Clashes erupted on Thursday after police arrested a member of radical
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army and accused him of planting a bomb
which killed a senior intelligence officer.
Some 200 to 300 Mahdi Army fighters attacked and burned two police stations
and besieged the force's local headquarters, triggering street battles in
which at least 18 people died and 97 were wounded.
The Iraqi army sent reinforcements to the town and British forces, which
have overall security responsibility in southern Iraq, put a 600-strong
battle group on stand-by to intervene.
But Sadr, who has been trying to find a political rather than a military
path to power, quickly called on his supporters to stand down and sent
aides to the city to negotiate a ceasefire with police.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki also sent a ministerial delegation. Both
negotiating teams were still in Amara on Saturday, but there was no
immediate word on the terms of the apparent truce.