Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Boston Globe
March 15, 2008 By Jaafar al-Taie, Reuters
KUT, Iraq - Members of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia clashed with Iraqi police in the southern city of Kut yesterday, a day after a close Sadr aide ordered militiamen to abide by a cease-fire, police said.
The militiamen clashed with Iraqi and US soldiers earlier this week in Kut, 105 miles southeast of Baghdad, sparking concerns that the cease-fire might unravel and lead to an upsurge in violence.
Police Captain Majed al-Amara said two officers were killed and 10 people were wounded.
"I'm not able to fight the gunmen with the few troops I have," said Lieutenant Aziz al-Amara, who commands a rapid reaction unit.
Police said mortars and small arms were used in the clashes, which took place in the Izzeh, Sharqia, and Hawia districts of the city. One police car was set ablaze.
The fighting yesterday started soon after the funerals for the men killed Tuesday ended.
Sadr, whose militia fought two battles against US forces in southern Iraq in 2004, extended a seven-month-old cease-fire last month, but last weekend issued a statement telling followers they could defend themselves if attacked.
Gun battles in Kut killed a total of 11 people Tuesday, according to the city's police chief, prompting US Special Forces to launch air strikes after requests from Iraqi authorities for help.
Violence has dropped across Iraq by 60 percent since June, when an additional 30,000 US troops became fully deployed. But attacks continue, particularly in Iraq's north where Al Qaeda has regrouped.
Near the northern city of Mosul, which the US military says is Al Qaeda's last urban stronghold, hundreds of Iraqi Christians mourned the death of kidnapped Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, the most senior Chaldean Catholic clergyman in Iraq.
The abduction and death of Rahho, 65, was the most high- profile attack on an Iraqi Christian since the US-led invasion began in 2003. The slaying drew inter- national condemnation, including from President Bush and Pope Benedict XVI.
Hundreds of mostly Christian mourners crowded into the Mar Eddy church in Rahho's home village of Kramleis, east of Mosul and 240 miles north of Baghdad, to pay their last respects.
"I ask the people of the church to be steadfast and patient," Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, the Chaldean patriarch of Baghdad and leader of Iraq's Christians, told mourners.
"I appeal to God that this awful act will help the peace process in this tortured country," Delly said.
The Chaldean church, an Eastern-rite denomination, is aligned with the Roman Catholic Church and recognizes the authority of the pope.
Although they represent a tiny minority of the Iraqi population, Chaldean Catholics make up the biggest Christian community in the mostly Muslim nation.
Rahho was abducted Feb. 29 after gunmen attacked his car and killed his driver and two guards. His body was found Thursday in a shallow grave in eastern Mosul. It was not clear how Rahho, who was known to suffer from poor health, had died.
Police at the Mosul morgue said he appeared to have been dead a week and his body bore no bullet wounds. There were few reports of violence across Iraq yesterday. Two suicide car bombs exploded within seconds of each other at an Iraqi Army checkpoint in Mosul, killing three and wounding five civilians, police said.
On Thursday, a 15 year-old girl was killed in Samarra when police opened fire on her family's car after the driver failed to stop at a checkpoint, officials said. Police and a US-backed neighborhood patrol unit said they killed an Al Qaeda leader in Samarra the same day.
March 15, 2008 By Jaafar al-Taie, Reuters
KUT, Iraq - Members of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia clashed with Iraqi police in the southern city of Kut yesterday, a day after a close Sadr aide ordered militiamen to abide by a cease-fire, police said.
The militiamen clashed with Iraqi and US soldiers earlier this week in Kut, 105 miles southeast of Baghdad, sparking concerns that the cease-fire might unravel and lead to an upsurge in violence.
Police Captain Majed al-Amara said two officers were killed and 10 people were wounded.
"I'm not able to fight the gunmen with the few troops I have," said Lieutenant Aziz al-Amara, who commands a rapid reaction unit.
Police said mortars and small arms were used in the clashes, which took place in the Izzeh, Sharqia, and Hawia districts of the city. One police car was set ablaze.
The fighting yesterday started soon after the funerals for the men killed Tuesday ended.
Sadr, whose militia fought two battles against US forces in southern Iraq in 2004, extended a seven-month-old cease-fire last month, but last weekend issued a statement telling followers they could defend themselves if attacked.
Gun battles in Kut killed a total of 11 people Tuesday, according to the city's police chief, prompting US Special Forces to launch air strikes after requests from Iraqi authorities for help.
Violence has dropped across Iraq by 60 percent since June, when an additional 30,000 US troops became fully deployed. But attacks continue, particularly in Iraq's north where Al Qaeda has regrouped.
Near the northern city of Mosul, which the US military says is Al Qaeda's last urban stronghold, hundreds of Iraqi Christians mourned the death of kidnapped Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, the most senior Chaldean Catholic clergyman in Iraq.
The abduction and death of Rahho, 65, was the most high- profile attack on an Iraqi Christian since the US-led invasion began in 2003. The slaying drew inter- national condemnation, including from President Bush and Pope Benedict XVI.
Hundreds of mostly Christian mourners crowded into the Mar Eddy church in Rahho's home village of Kramleis, east of Mosul and 240 miles north of Baghdad, to pay their last respects.
"I ask the people of the church to be steadfast and patient," Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, the Chaldean patriarch of Baghdad and leader of Iraq's Christians, told mourners.
"I appeal to God that this awful act will help the peace process in this tortured country," Delly said.
The Chaldean church, an Eastern-rite denomination, is aligned with the Roman Catholic Church and recognizes the authority of the pope.
Although they represent a tiny minority of the Iraqi population, Chaldean Catholics make up the biggest Christian community in the mostly Muslim nation.
Rahho was abducted Feb. 29 after gunmen attacked his car and killed his driver and two guards. His body was found Thursday in a shallow grave in eastern Mosul. It was not clear how Rahho, who was known to suffer from poor health, had died.
Police at the Mosul morgue said he appeared to have been dead a week and his body bore no bullet wounds. There were few reports of violence across Iraq yesterday. Two suicide car bombs exploded within seconds of each other at an Iraqi Army checkpoint in Mosul, killing three and wounding five civilians, police said.
On Thursday, a 15 year-old girl was killed in Samarra when police opened fire on her family's car after the driver failed to stop at a checkpoint, officials said. Police and a US-backed neighborhood patrol unit said they killed an Al Qaeda leader in Samarra the same day.