Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Miami Herald
May 9, 2008 Residents of Sadr City were ordered to move to temporary shelters amid continued violence. Elsewhere, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq was captured.
By Leila Fadel, McClatchy News Service
Iraqi security forces, after more than 40 days of intense fighting, on Thursday told residents to evacuate their homes in the northeast Shiite slum of Sadr City and to move to temporary shelters on two soccer fields.
Meanwhile, Iraqi police commandos captured Abu Ayyub al Masri -- also known as Abu Hamza al Muhajir -- the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, The Associated Press reported. Masri, the AP said, was captured by Iraqi police commandos Thursday in a raid in the northern city of Mosul. The arrest would be a significant blow to the Sunni insurgency.
The military's evacuation call, indicating the possibility of stepped-up military operations, came as Iraqi security forces raided the radio station run by backers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr and militants launched rockets at a coalition force operating base in the southern port city of Basra, killing two contractors and injuring four civilians and four coalition soldiers.
Sadr City has been a battleground since late March, enduring U.S. airstrikes, militia snipers and gun battles between U.S. and Iraqi forces and the Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to Sadr.
Already about 8,500 people have been displaced from the sprawling slum of 2.5 million people, according to the Iraqi Red Crescent. For weeks, food, water and medical shortages have affected about 150,000 people, aid agencies said. Two soccer fields in east and northeast Baghdad are expected to receive 16,000 evacuees from the southeast portion of the city where the fighting has been most intense.
Col. Abdul Amir Risna Sigar, the director of sports facilities in Baghdad, said his organization would set up 500 tents around the two fields but are waiting for final orders. The Iraqi Red Crescent was stockpiling food, medical supplies and tents after being informed of the evacuation. It will be responsible for setting up the shelter and living areas for evacuees, the general director, Mazen Saloum, said.
The U.S. military is putting up barriers to isolate the southern portion of the city, about two square miles, where they believe militants are launching rockets into the heavily fortified Green Zone, where Iraqi government offices and the U.S. diplomatic mission are housed. They expect the project to be complete in less than two weeks. The walls will isolate about 800,000 people in the sprawling slum from the rest of the district to stem the flow of rockets and weapons, said Col. Allen Batschelet, the chief of staff of the U.S. military Baghdad command.
''We're putting a series of these barriers that allows us to control access,'' he said. ``Is it disruptive? You bet. Does it slow down commerce? No doubt. But right now that's the cost of reducing the illegal flow of weapons and arms that were getting in there previously.''
On Wednesday, Iraqi security forces raided and stopped the broadcast of the Sadrist Al Ahad radio station, radio employees said.
''The army told the manager that the radio station is considered to provoke terrorism,'' said Akhbal Hameed, a 38-year-old radio employee. ``The Iraqi forces blocked, raided and evacuated the building.''
Iraqi officials said they didn't shut down the station and only conducted a raid.
Special correspondents Laith Hammoudi and Jenan Hussein contributed.
May 9, 2008 Residents of Sadr City were ordered to move to temporary shelters amid continued violence. Elsewhere, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq was captured.
By Leila Fadel, McClatchy News Service
Iraqi security forces, after more than 40 days of intense fighting, on Thursday told residents to evacuate their homes in the northeast Shiite slum of Sadr City and to move to temporary shelters on two soccer fields.
Meanwhile, Iraqi police commandos captured Abu Ayyub al Masri -- also known as Abu Hamza al Muhajir -- the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, The Associated Press reported. Masri, the AP said, was captured by Iraqi police commandos Thursday in a raid in the northern city of Mosul. The arrest would be a significant blow to the Sunni insurgency.
The military's evacuation call, indicating the possibility of stepped-up military operations, came as Iraqi security forces raided the radio station run by backers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr and militants launched rockets at a coalition force operating base in the southern port city of Basra, killing two contractors and injuring four civilians and four coalition soldiers.
Sadr City has been a battleground since late March, enduring U.S. airstrikes, militia snipers and gun battles between U.S. and Iraqi forces and the Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to Sadr.
Already about 8,500 people have been displaced from the sprawling slum of 2.5 million people, according to the Iraqi Red Crescent. For weeks, food, water and medical shortages have affected about 150,000 people, aid agencies said. Two soccer fields in east and northeast Baghdad are expected to receive 16,000 evacuees from the southeast portion of the city where the fighting has been most intense.
Col. Abdul Amir Risna Sigar, the director of sports facilities in Baghdad, said his organization would set up 500 tents around the two fields but are waiting for final orders. The Iraqi Red Crescent was stockpiling food, medical supplies and tents after being informed of the evacuation. It will be responsible for setting up the shelter and living areas for evacuees, the general director, Mazen Saloum, said.
The U.S. military is putting up barriers to isolate the southern portion of the city, about two square miles, where they believe militants are launching rockets into the heavily fortified Green Zone, where Iraqi government offices and the U.S. diplomatic mission are housed. They expect the project to be complete in less than two weeks. The walls will isolate about 800,000 people in the sprawling slum from the rest of the district to stem the flow of rockets and weapons, said Col. Allen Batschelet, the chief of staff of the U.S. military Baghdad command.
''We're putting a series of these barriers that allows us to control access,'' he said. ``Is it disruptive? You bet. Does it slow down commerce? No doubt. But right now that's the cost of reducing the illegal flow of weapons and arms that were getting in there previously.''
On Wednesday, Iraqi security forces raided and stopped the broadcast of the Sadrist Al Ahad radio station, radio employees said.
''The army told the manager that the radio station is considered to provoke terrorism,'' said Akhbal Hameed, a 38-year-old radio employee. ``The Iraqi forces blocked, raided and evacuated the building.''
Iraqi officials said they didn't shut down the station and only conducted a raid.
Special correspondents Laith Hammoudi and Jenan Hussein contributed.