Sadr City Ambush Kills More Than 30
BAGHDAD —
More than two dozen people were killed when Shiite militants ambushed a U.S. patrol in Baghdad’s embattled Sadr City district, bringing the death toll in the area on Tuesday to more than 30, a U.S. military spokesman and Iraqi officials said.
The clashes broke out at 9:30 a.m. after U.S. troops were attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, spokesman Lt. Col. Steve Stover said.
Six American soldiers were wounded in the fighting. As the troops were leaving the area, a vehicle was hit with two roadside bombs, Stover said.
The attack occurred along a road on which the U.S. military is erecting a concrete barrier to try to cut off the militants’ ability to move freely into the rest of Baghdad and hamper their ability to fire rockets and mortars at the Green Zone, the central Baghdad district where government offices and the U.S. Embassy are located.
Officials at the Imam Ali and al-Sadr general hospitals said about 25 people had died, with several dozen wounded. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to release the information and said most of the victims were civilians. They said several buildings in the neighborhood had been demolished and rescue crews were searching the rubble.
Stover said U.S. forces targeted gunmen in the area with rockets fired from a guided multiple-launch rocket system, which fires high-explosive warheads weighing 200 pounds.
“We have every right to defend ourselves,” he said. “The problem is they’re using houses, rooftops and alleyways” as cover.
Earlier Tuesday, eight people were killed and 67 wounded in the sprawling eastern district which is home to 2.5 million residents. Shiite militiamen and U.S. and Iraqi forces have been locked in increasingly violent street battles there during the past month.
A showdown between the Iraqi government and the Mahdi Army militia — led by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr — has increasingly drawn U.S. forces into battle. American commanders are particularly focused on trying to curb a rise in mortar and rocket attacks on the heavily fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad that houses Iraq’s government and many foreign embassies.
AP Television News footage showed men helping women cross the street and children running for cover behind blast walls amid gunshots.
Men helped carry several blood-soaked injured people on stretchers to a local emergency hospital. Outside the hospital, the dead were placed inside plain wooden coffins.
Also in Baghdad, a senior government official was killed in a roadside bombing in the north of the city.
Dhia Jodi Jaber, director general at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, was hit by a roadside bomb as he left his home on Tuesday morning, the ministry’s spokesman Abdullah al-Lami said.
Insurgents frequently target governmental officials and institutions in a bid to disrupt the government’s work.
In the southern city of Basra, where the government began its crackdown on Shiite militias on March 25, Iraqi military commander Lt. Gen. Mohan al-Fireji announced the discovery of a huge weapons cache containing roadside bombs, mortar launchers and Iranian-made weapons.
More details on the amount of weapons or how authorities knew they were Iranian-made were not immediately available.
Meanwhile, the trial of Tariq Aziz, one of Saddam Hussein’s best-known lieutenants, was scheduled to open in Baghdad on Tuesday.
Aziz is one of eight defendants facing charges in a case dating back to 1992 when the government executed 42 merchants for war-profiteering. Others include Saddam’s half brother and the dictator’s cousin known as “Chemical Ali,” who faces a pending death sentence in another case.
Ali Hassan Al-Majid’s lawyer, Badee Izzat Aref, said that his client was too ill to stand trial.
Elsewhere, a female homicide bomber blew herself up at a bus stop near Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, killing one and wounding five people, police said.
In other developments, the Iraqi defense ministry said Serbia had agreed to write off $3 billion in Iraq’s foreign debt.
Serbia’s move comes after an international conference last week in Kuwait at which Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and U.S. Secretary of State unsuccessfully pressed Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states to forgive Iraq’s debts as a sign of support for Iraq’s government.
Iraq harbors at least $67 billion in foreign debt — the vast majority of it owed to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
(AP)
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Just as I suspected, the AP was full of shit.
28 Muhdi killed, no US troops killed. Theses one sided shit kickings are cool.
{{MND-B Soldiers attacked with IEDs, small-arms fire, kill 28 criminals
Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO
BAGHDAD – Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers killed 28 criminals in an extended small-arms fire engagement against Special Groups criminals in eastern Baghdad April 29.
At approximately 9:30 a.m., a U.S. patrol received small-arms fire, wounding an MND-B Soldier. As the Soldier was being evacuated, a U.S. vehicle was struck by two improvised explosive devices, and received small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades.
One vehicle was damaged in the attack and two other Soldiers were injured. The three Soldiers and a fourth also injured in the heavy SAF and RPG attacks that followed were evacuated to a nearby combat outpost.
Another U.S. vehicle was damaged by a third IED in the attack, and two Soldiers suffered minor injuries in the fighting that followed. None of the U.S. injuries are life threatening.
Using a combination of weapon systems available, including a Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System, MND-B Soldiers from 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, defended themselves and as the fighting ebbed, at least 28 militants were killed in the four-hour engagement.
“We will defend ourselves and the law-abiding Iraqi citizens,” said Col. Allen Batschelet, chief of staff, MND-B and 4th Inf. Div. “We continually show great restraint and professionalism when attacked, and clearly identify the enemy before engaging their positions. The enemy continues to show little regard for innocent civilians, as they fire their weapons from within houses, alleyways, and rooftops upon our Soldiers.
“Our goal is to establish a safe neighborhood in southern Sadr City in order to protect the people throughout Baghdad, and allow the Government of Iraq to reestablish economic growth and improve upon essential services.”}}
April 29th, 2008 at 7:26 amDontcha just love how the AP leads one to believe that those killed were just “people” as if they were ordinary innocent citizens.
April 29th, 2008 at 7:58 amDeathstar and David, solid points, but what I find amazing is that the AP actually had this phrase in the story “Elsewhere, a female homicide bomber”
The fact that they are now calling them homicide bombers is like a blast of cold water… the AP is up to something here, rather than staying on the side of the traitors and terrorists, they included one littel honest statement. Are they trying to set themselves up as honest reporters again?!?!
April 29th, 2008 at 8:53 amAre they trying to set themselves up as honest reporters again?!?!
———————————————————-
HEH!!
You made a “funny” …
April 29th, 2008 at 9:46 amAP’s problem with gradually introducing some honest reportage, of course, is that the contrast with its usual bumpf is so stark that it just re-emphasizes the systematic distorting lenses it has been using.
May 1st, 2008 at 4:46 pm