CNN.com August 5, 2004
U.S., Iraqi forces battle cleric's militia in Najaf
U.S. military forces on Thursday joined Iraqi security forces fighting the militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the holy city of Najaf, according to Iraqi and U.S. military officials.
U.S. forces, responding to a request from the Najaf governor's office, began fighting alongside the Iraqi forces at 11 a.m.
Ten deaths were reported in Najaf, all of them Iraqis. One was an Iraqi police officer. A spokesman for al-Sadr said six of the 10 were members of the Mehdi Army -- the cleric's militia.
Al-Hakim hospital reported that two Iraqi civilians had died, and Iraq's Health Ministry said a worker at Najaf's general hospital was killed when that hospital was hit by mortar fire.
Also, a U.S. helicopter carrying a wounded U.S. service member was shot down by small-arms fire, a senior coalition official told CNN. Two more U.S. military personnel were injured in the crash landing.
Iraqi police, members of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps and U.S. Marines were battling the insurgents, the Najaf governor's office said. At one point, Marines called in close air support, which dropped a 500-pound bomb on a suspected mortar position.
The clashes went on in the city center, about 1,000 meters from the Imam Ali mosque in the Old Town section, according to the Iraqi Defense Ministry and the governor's office. Najaf is about 80 miles (130 kms) south of Baghdad.
Announcements through the loudspeakers at the mosque claimed the shrine had been damaged by the U.S. military and called on the people of Najaf to fight back. Najaf has a population of 560,000, according to GlobalSecurity.org.
Asked about the mosque being hit by U.S. or Iraqi forces, a coalition forces spokesman said he'd be "very suspect of that accusation."
Earlier in the day, a U.S. Marine quick reaction force was deployed in Najaf as the city's main police station came under fire twice within two hours, a U.S. military statement said.
The Marines joined Iraqi security forces in defending the police station, the statement said, but fired no shots as Mehdi Army members withdrew . There were no Marine casualties and enemy casualties were unknown.
"A significant number of aggressors, presumed to be members of the self-designated [Mehdi] Army, began attacking the station with heavy machine guns, RPGs, mortars, and small arms around 3 a.m.," the statement said.
"This came after an initial attack on the police station around 1 a.m. was unsuccessful."
On Wednesday, the Mehdi Army released five of six Iraqi police officers kidnapped Sunday. A spokesman for the Najaf governor's office Thursday said all five were returned with an "X" branded on their backs, using a metal bar.
"We consider this to be an unacceptable act of terrorism," the governor's office spokesman said.
The hostages were taken because one of the leading sheikhs of the Mehdi Army was arrested by Karbala police, sources from the Najaf governor's office told CNN on Tuesday.
Also Thursday morning, a suicide car bomber killed six people and wounded 24 others near an Iraqi police station south of Baghdad, according to Iraq's Ministries of Health and Interior.
The bomber drove a mini-bus near the station in Mahawil, about 40 miles (64 km) south of the Iraqi capital, according to Interior Ministry official Col. Adnan Abdul Rahman.
The Ministry of Health could not confirm the identities of the casualties.
14 Iraqi civilians die in Mosul clashes
A news release from the U.S. Central Command office reported on Wednesday that 14 Iraqi civilians died and 31 were wounded in coordinated attacks by insurgents, who were targeting Iraqi security and multinational forces in the northern city of Mosul.
The release said the Iraqi security forces killed eight insurgents.
The provincial governor imposed a curfew that began at 3 p.m. and two hours later, provincial forces, police and Iraqi National Guard took control, according to Hazem Gelawi, head of the governor's press office in the Nineveh province.
Gelawi said the city is stable and expects the curfew to be lifted Thursday.
'No concessions to terrorists'
Responding to the ongoing rash of kidnappings and slayings in Iraq, the U.S. State Department announced Wednesday a new policy statement on terrorism -- vowing that "no concessions" will be made.
"As members of the multinational force in Iraq operating under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1546, we're united in our resolve to make no concessions to terrorists, nor to succumb to terrorist threats," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.
"We understand that conceding to terrorists will only endanger all members of the multinational force, as well as other countries who are contributing to Iraqi reconstruction and humanitarian assistance," he added.
© Copyright 2004, Cable News Network
