Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Reuters.com
April 28, 2008 By Peter Graff, Reuters
BAGHDAD -- The U.S. military said on Monday it had killed 38 fighters in a day of battles in northeastern Baghdad as militants took advantage of dust storms to launch apparently coordinated assaults.
The attacks, which appeared to be some of the biggest clashes in weeks, showed that some fighters had defied an order by anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to observe a ceasefire.
U.S. troops opened fire with tanks, killing 22 fighters in one assault on a joint U.S.-Iraqi checkpoint after dark on Sunday. In another battle at almost the same time, they killed seven fighters who ambushed a patrol.
Nine were killed in engagements earlier in the day.
At about the same time as the two big evening attacks, a barrage of rockets struck the Green Zone, the fortified government and diplomatic compound in the centre of the capital.
The dust storms grounded U.S. helicopters, the main weapon American troops use to hunt rocket crews.
In the biggest attack, the military described an attempt by gunmen to overrun a checkpoint manned by Iraqis and U.S. troops.
The U.S. forces killed "22 criminals", it said in a statement, adding: "The criminals' small-arms fire was ineffective and there were no U.S. or (Iraqi security force) casualties in the attack."
It did not give the precise location of the battle in northeast Baghdad, but described a unit that has been deployed near Sadr City, the crowded slum of 2 million people where Sadr's Mehdi Army fighters hold sway.
The attack and missile strikes appeared to defy a renewed call for a ceasefire by Sadr, who had praised his followers on Friday for refraining from attacks and told them they should not fight Iraqi troops.
Sirens continued to wail from the Green Zone in the early hours of Monday, signaling to people to take cover inside the heavily fortified compound on the west bank of the Tigris River.
Late on Sunday, Reuters correspondents on the opposite bank heard missiles whistling overhead and exploding inside the compound.
Iraqi police said eight missiles or mortars bombs hit the Green Zone and 14 fell in other parts of the Iraqi capital before nightfall in several quick bursts, killing two people and wounding 20. At least one more barrage of missiles was fired later on Sunday night.
The United States blames rogue elements of Sadr's militia for firing the rockets. It accuses neighboring Iran of supplying the weapons and says some were made as recently as last year. Iran denies the accusations.
Militiamen have fired 700 missiles and mortars over the past month in Baghdad, but U.S. forces had said they believed they had reduced the fighters' ability to strike the Green Zone by occupying the part of the Sadr City slum closest to it.
April 28, 2008 By Peter Graff, Reuters
BAGHDAD -- The U.S. military said on Monday it had killed 38 fighters in a day of battles in northeastern Baghdad as militants took advantage of dust storms to launch apparently coordinated assaults.
The attacks, which appeared to be some of the biggest clashes in weeks, showed that some fighters had defied an order by anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to observe a ceasefire.
U.S. troops opened fire with tanks, killing 22 fighters in one assault on a joint U.S.-Iraqi checkpoint after dark on Sunday. In another battle at almost the same time, they killed seven fighters who ambushed a patrol.
Nine were killed in engagements earlier in the day.
At about the same time as the two big evening attacks, a barrage of rockets struck the Green Zone, the fortified government and diplomatic compound in the centre of the capital.
The dust storms grounded U.S. helicopters, the main weapon American troops use to hunt rocket crews.
In the biggest attack, the military described an attempt by gunmen to overrun a checkpoint manned by Iraqis and U.S. troops.
The U.S. forces killed "22 criminals", it said in a statement, adding: "The criminals' small-arms fire was ineffective and there were no U.S. or (Iraqi security force) casualties in the attack."
It did not give the precise location of the battle in northeast Baghdad, but described a unit that has been deployed near Sadr City, the crowded slum of 2 million people where Sadr's Mehdi Army fighters hold sway.
The attack and missile strikes appeared to defy a renewed call for a ceasefire by Sadr, who had praised his followers on Friday for refraining from attacks and told them they should not fight Iraqi troops.
Sirens continued to wail from the Green Zone in the early hours of Monday, signaling to people to take cover inside the heavily fortified compound on the west bank of the Tigris River.
Late on Sunday, Reuters correspondents on the opposite bank heard missiles whistling overhead and exploding inside the compound.
Iraqi police said eight missiles or mortars bombs hit the Green Zone and 14 fell in other parts of the Iraqi capital before nightfall in several quick bursts, killing two people and wounding 20. At least one more barrage of missiles was fired later on Sunday night.
The United States blames rogue elements of Sadr's militia for firing the rockets. It accuses neighboring Iran of supplying the weapons and says some were made as recently as last year. Iran denies the accusations.
Militiamen have fired 700 missiles and mortars over the past month in Baghdad, but U.S. forces had said they believed they had reduced the fighters' ability to strike the Green Zone by occupying the part of the Sadr City slum closest to it.