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Rival Shiite groups fight in Najaf

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  • Rival Shiite groups fight in Najaf

    Rival Shiite groups fight in Najaf

    BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Brawling and gunfire involving a militia loyal to a radical cleric flared Friday in the south-central Iraqi city of Najaf and a Baghdad neighborhood.

    Supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr and members of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq scuffled at the Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf, leading to casualties and the cancellation of Friday prayers.

    Al-Sadr is a Shiite Muslim cleric who has waged a fight against U.S.-led coalition forces since April.

    The council has a presence in the new Iraqi interim government and is supportive of the coalition.

    The violence comes after Najaf police and assailants clashed in fighting that began late Wednesday and continued for hours Thursday.

    Police are trying to maintain stability in the volatile city and in neighboring Kufa, where U.S. troops and al-Sadr's militia, the Mehdi Army, fought for weeks before a truce last week.

    Demonstrators for the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq had lauded the agreement, which involves the deployment of Iraqi police in the centers of Kufa and Najaf and the repositioning of U.S. troops to the outskirts of the towns.

    The latest fighting in Najaf broke out in the yard of the Imam Ali Shrine between the rival Shiite groups. About 100 men were involved in fistfights, and people threw shoes and sand.

    Gunfire then erupted for about 30 minutes, with several Iraqis on both sides wounded. The shrine's doors were closed and Friday prayers canceled.

    In Sadr City, a Baghdad neighborhood that is also a bastion of the radical cleric's movement, 14 Iraqis were wounded in fighting between al-Sadr forces and coalition troops.

    The fighting began Thursday and lasted into early Friday, a police official said. Hospital officials said the wounded were civilians, but it was unclear if they had taken part in the clashes.

    Read more here:
    http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/...ain/index.html
    "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

  • #2
    Doesn't matter.

    That Sadr bloke has called it quits and is about to go home. He is supposed to be forming a political party to fight the eletion. For the moment, good riddance and for a later time frame, best of luck, you rabble rouser.


    "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

    I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

    HAKUNA MATATA

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