U.S. General Urges Sadr To Restrain His Fighters

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Philadelphia Inquirer
April 24, 2008 By Kim Gamel, Associated Press
BAGHDAD - A top American general urged radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr yesterday to rein in his fighters after a U.S. soldier was killed during a gun battle in a militia stronghold in Baghdad.
Two bombings also struck the northern city of Mosul within 30 minutes, killing four people and wounding 12 amid concerns that al-Qaeda in Iraq is regrouping.
The U.S. soldier died from a bullet wound in a clash in New Baghdad, a stronghold of Sadr's Mahdi Army militia in an eastern section of the capital, according to Lt. Col. Steve Stover, a military spokesman.
A rocket also slammed into a closed school as teenagers were playing soccer outside, killing two youths and wounding three amid sporadic fighting in the Sadr City district, a predominantly Shiite area of Baghdad that is home to 2.5 million people.
Fighting that began a month ago in response to an Iraqi government crackdown on militia violence has put a severe strain on a cease-fire called in late August by Sadr. The anti-U.S. cleric threatened this weekend to unleash his militia in "open war" if the operations persist.
Despite heightened rhetoric by Sadr and his followers, U.S. commanders have been careful not to directly link the cleric to the fighting, instead blaming Iranian-backed Shiite fighters who have broken with his movement.
"We do not attribute what we've seen to JAM," said the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, using the Iraqi acronym for the Mahdi Army.
But he suggested Sadr could stop the attacks.
"We certainly hope that Sadr will choose the road of peace and responsibility," Austin, who commands day-to-day operations in Iraq, told reporters.
Fierce fighting also broke out overnight in Husseiniyah, another area dominated by Shiite militias on the northeastern outskirts of Baghdad as well as in Sadr City, the area that has been the focus of recent fighting.
The American military said 21 suspected gunmen were killed in the two neighborhoods late Tuesday. Iraqi officials said 15 civilians were among the dead, including two women.
The killing of the U.S. soldier raised the American death toll in April to 34, the highest monthly total for troops in Iraq since September, when 65 Americans were killed, according to an Associated Press tally.
 
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