Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
USA Today
May 7, 2008
Pg. 6
By Associated Press
BAGHDAD — A rocket slammed into Baghdad's City Hall and another hit a downtown park Tuesday as civilians fled a Shiite militia stronghold where U.S.-led forces are locked in fierce street battles.
The American push in the Sadr City district — launched after an Iraqi government crackdown on armed Shiite groups began in late March — is trying to weaken the militia grip in a key corner of Baghdad and disrupt rocket and mortar strikes on the U.S.-protected Green Zone.
The violence came on the same day that the U.S. military announced plans to withdraw 3,500 American soldiers from the country by the summer.
The withdrawal is part of the Pentagon's overall reduction in troop strength following last year's "surge," when 30,000 additional American troops were deployed to help stem growing violence.
The departing soldiers, part of the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, will redeploy to Fort Benning, Ga., the military said.
In Baghdad, however, fresh salvos of rockets wounded at least 16 people Tuesday and drew U.S. retaliation.
One rocket — apparently aimed at the Green Zone — blasted the nearby City Hall. Three rockets hit parts of central Baghdad, including one that destroyed some playground equipment in a park. An Iraqi police station was damaged by a rocket that failed to detonate, the U.S. military said.
More families sought refuge in neighborhoods away from the fighting.
A senior member of the municipal council in Sadr City estimated 8,000 families had fled the teeming slum since the battles began six weeks ago. He spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of security reasons. The figure could not be independently verified.
Mulkiya Methour, a woman wearing a black head-to-toe chador, said many families had left Sadr City.
"They fled bombardment. Their houses were destroyed and sewage floated into their homes," Methour told AP Television News outside Sadr City — the stronghold for the Mahdi army militia of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
May 7, 2008
Pg. 6
By Associated Press
BAGHDAD — A rocket slammed into Baghdad's City Hall and another hit a downtown park Tuesday as civilians fled a Shiite militia stronghold where U.S.-led forces are locked in fierce street battles.
The American push in the Sadr City district — launched after an Iraqi government crackdown on armed Shiite groups began in late March — is trying to weaken the militia grip in a key corner of Baghdad and disrupt rocket and mortar strikes on the U.S.-protected Green Zone.
The violence came on the same day that the U.S. military announced plans to withdraw 3,500 American soldiers from the country by the summer.
The withdrawal is part of the Pentagon's overall reduction in troop strength following last year's "surge," when 30,000 additional American troops were deployed to help stem growing violence.
The departing soldiers, part of the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, will redeploy to Fort Benning, Ga., the military said.
In Baghdad, however, fresh salvos of rockets wounded at least 16 people Tuesday and drew U.S. retaliation.
One rocket — apparently aimed at the Green Zone — blasted the nearby City Hall. Three rockets hit parts of central Baghdad, including one that destroyed some playground equipment in a park. An Iraqi police station was damaged by a rocket that failed to detonate, the U.S. military said.
More families sought refuge in neighborhoods away from the fighting.
A senior member of the municipal council in Sadr City estimated 8,000 families had fled the teeming slum since the battles began six weeks ago. He spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of security reasons. The figure could not be independently verified.
Mulkiya Methour, a woman wearing a black head-to-toe chador, said many families had left Sadr City.
"They fled bombardment. Their houses were destroyed and sewage floated into their homes," Methour told AP Television News outside Sadr City — the stronghold for the Mahdi army militia of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.