Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Friday, 28 March 2008.

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Iraqi Resistanc7 Report 1203

Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Friday, 28 March 2008. Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board, the Free Arab Voice. http://www.freearabvoice.org

Friday, 28 March 2008.

· Mortar shells blast into offices of Iraqi Vice President al-Hashimi in “Green Zone” Friday afternoon.

· US admits American soldier killed in east Baghdad bomb attack Thursday.

· Five American troops wounded in ambush in Khan Bani Sa‘d.

· Mortar barrage targets US Consulate in al-Hillah Friday morning.

· Jaysh al-Mahdi seizes control of an-Nasiriyah, most of southern Iraq, correspondents report, despite US-backed regime claims to the contrary.

· Jaysh al-Mahdi controls most streets in al-Basrah after four days of US-backed offensive against them. Casualty toll stood at 55 dead, over 160 wounded as of noon Thursday.

Baghdad.

Bomb targets Iraqi regime National Guard patrol in Baghdad’s al-‘Amiriyah Friday.

In a dispatch posted at 3:15pm Baghdad time Friday afternoon, the Association of Muslim Scholars of Iraq (AMSI) reported that a bomb exploded by a patrol of Iraqi regime National Guard on al-Munazzamah Street in the west Baghdad district of al-‘Amiriyah on Friday.

Mortar shells blast into offices of Iraqi Vice President al-Hashimi in “Green Zone” Friday afternoon.

In a dispatch posted at 6:06pm Baghdad time Friday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that mortar shells had blasted into the “Green Zone” office of the Sunni sectarian Iraqi Vice-President Tariq al-Hashimi, killing one of his bodyguards and wounding six more of them.

Yaqen reported that the mortar shells slammed into the “ Green Zone” – including al-Hashimi’s office – after noon on Friday, when the pro-American official was not present. Explosions going off within the “Zone” could be heard in many parts of the Iraqi capital.

Tariq al-Hashimi is a leader of the Sunni sectarian Iraqi Islamic Party – an offshoot of the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood Organization that joined “Iraqi Governing Council” formed by US Proconsul L. Paul Bremer after the American invasion in 2003.

On 14 December 2006, the American newspaper USA Today reported that US President George W. Bush was backing Tariq al-Hashimi and his Sunni-sectarian parties in a bid to force Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, to take action against the anti-occupation Jaysh al-Mahdi militia – a direction that has now culminated in al-Maliki’s current announced drive to “cleanse” Iraq of the Jaysh al-Mahdi on behalf of the US occupation forces.

US admits American soldier killed in east Baghdad bomb attack Thursday.

In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 4:13pm Friday afternoon Beijing time (11:13am in Baghdad), the Xinhua News Agency reported that the US military had admitted that a bomb exploded by US troops in combat operations in eastern Baghdad on Thursday and that one American soldier had been killed.

Xinhua reported a US communiqué as saying that the bomb killed one American soldier in eastern Baghdad but in keeping with the US practice of concealing facts regarding US losses in Iraq, the statement provided no more details regarding the circumstances of the attack.

Diyala Province.

Khan Bani Sa‘d.

US admits five American troops wounded in ambush in Khan Bani Sa‘d.

In a dispatch posted at 2:02pm Baghdad time Friday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that the US military’s Information Counselor announced that five American troops had been wounded in an attack on a US column in Diyala Province.

Yaqen reported ‘Abd al-Latif Rayyan as saying that fighters equipped with light arms and grenades ambushed a US patrol in the Khan Bani Sa‘d area, 40km northeast of Baghdad, wounding five of the American soldiers.

Meanwhile, a source in the Khan Bani Sa‘d police said that a bomb exploded by a US patrol in the Khan Bani Sa‘d area, after which the Americans cordoned off the area and imposed a curfew in the vicinity. The source said that no information on the nature or extent of US casualties in that attack was available.

Babil Province.

Al-Hillah.

Mortar barrage targets US Consulate in al-Hillah Friday morning.

In a dispatch posted at 11:25am Baghdad time Friday morning, the Yaqen News Agency reported that that the US Consulate in southern al-Hillah, 100km south of Baghdad came under mortar attack on Friday.

Yaqen reported a source in the Babil Province police as saying that the mortar rounds landed in various areas around the American Consulate. Three shells struck the Bab al-Mashhad area near the big Reformatory Prison in the city. Those shells caused no casualties, thought they damaged houses near the facility. As usual, the Americans made no announcement regarding the nature or extent of US casualties as a result of the shells that landed inside the US Consulate.

Karbala’ Province.

Karbala’.

Regime claims capture of Jaysh al-Mahdi unit in Karbala’.

In a dispatch posted at 5:07pm Baghdad time Friday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that the Iraqi regime police operations commander in Karbala’ announced that the US-backed forces had captured a man he claimed was a Jaysh al-Mahdi unit that carried out assassinations of regime officials in the city.

Al-Qadisiyah Province.

Ad-Diwaniyah.

Jaysh al-Mahdi bombards headquarters of Iraqi regime division midday Friday.

In a dispatch posted at 5:26pm Baghdad time Friday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that Jaysh al-Mahdi militiamen bombarded the headquarters of the Iraqi regime army’s 8^th Division in ad-Diwaniyah on Friday.

Local government administrator shot dead as fighting between US backed regime and anti-occupation Jaysh al-Mahdi militia breaks out in ad-Diwaniyah Friday.

In a dispatch posted at 2:40pm Baghdad time Friday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that armed men shot and killed Sa‘d ash-Shiblawi, the administrator of the Ghammas area in ad-Diwaniyah, 180km south of Baghdad, in an attack on the local administration building at noon Friday.

Yaqen reported Husayn al-Budayri of the ad-Diwaniyah police as saying that guards at the administration building joined the armed men in shooting the official who died while resisting the guards and attackers.

Dhi Qar Province.

An-Nasiriyah.

Jaysh al-Mahdi seizes control of an-Nasiriyah, most of southern Iraq, correspondents report, despite US-backed regime claims to the contrary.

In a dispatch posted at 5:43pm Baghdad time Friday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that that the Jaysh al-Mahdi militia had deployed in downtown an-Nasiriyah on Friday, taking over the strategic city on the road between Baghdad and al-Basrah from retreating American-backed forces.

The Yaqen correspondent in an-Nasiriyah reported that Jaysh al-Mahdi militiamen could be seen carrying weapons and rocket launchers in the streets and they had complete control of the city.

The correspondent said that the anti-occupation Jaysh al-Mahdi also had taken control of the nearby town of ash-Shatrah, north of an-Nasiriyah and that the sound of gunfire and explosions had culminated.

The correspondent noted that the Iraqi regime has lost control of most of the regions of southern Iraq, despite claims by the American-backed government in Baghdad to the contrary.

Fighting spreads to an-Nasiriyah on Friday, despite curfew. Fierce clashes erupt when regime forces try to open highway to al-Basrah.

In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 4:12pm Friday afternoon Beijing time (11:12am in Baghdad), the Xinhua News Agency reported that fighting erupted in numerous parts of the city of an-Nasiriyah, 320km south of Baghdad, and the nearby towns of Suq ash-Shuyukh and ash-Shatrah, all in Dhi Qar Province, astride the vital supply line from Baghdad just northwest of al-Basrah Province.

Xinhua reported that hit and run attacks had been taking place in which armed men, believed to be affiliated with the anti-occupation Jaysh al-Mahdi militia, assault groups of Iraqi regime army troops and police and then disappear into the residential areas nearby.

In a dispatch posted at 10:50am Baghdad time Friday morning, the Yaqen News Agency reported a source in the Dhi Qar Provincial Police as saying that US helicopter gun ships were engaged in the attacks on the Jaysh al-Mahdi as well, carrying out air strikes in support of the Iraqi regime ground troops.

A source in the regime’s security forces told Xinhua that the fiercest fighting erupted when Special Forces of the US-backed Iraqi regime were attempting to clear the International Highway towards al-Basrah to facilitate supply to the regime’s forces in that city. Fighting broke out there and was still going on in the Suq ash-Shuyukh area, 30km south of an-Nasiriyah, as of the time of reporting.

Local authorities imposed a curfew in an-Nasiriyah beginning Thursday afternoon and it was still in effect on Friday when the fighting with the Jaysh al-Mahdi broke out.

In a dispatch posted at 6:30pm Beijing time (1:30pm in Baghdad), Xinhua reported that as of that hour, 15 people had been killed and 25 more wounded in fighting between US-backed regime troops and Jaysh al-Mahdi militiamen in an-Nasiriyah.

Xinhua reported a source in the an-Nasiriyah government police as saying that four of the dead were members of the anti-occupation Jaysh al-Mahdi militia, as are seven of the wounded.

Al-Basrah Province.

Al-Basrah.

Doctor murdered in al-Basrah Thursday night.

In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 4:12pm Friday afternoon Beijing time (11:12am in Baghdad), the Xinhua News Agency reported that armed men shot and killed a physician, Dr Najm ‘Abdallah, the Director of the Emergency Division in al-Basrah General Hospital, as he was driving home on Thursday night.

Jaysh al-Mahdi controls most streets in al-Basrah after four days of US-backed offensive against them. Casualty toll stood at 55 dead, over 160 wounded as of noon Thursday.

In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 3:23pm Friday afternoon Beijing time (10:23pm in Baghdad), the Xinhua News Agency reported the Health Directorate of al-Basrah Provincehad announced that as of that hour 55 people had died and more than 160 had been wounded, most of them civilians, in the US-backed drive to “cleanse” al-Basrah of the anti-occupation Jaysh al-Mahdi militia.

Xinhua reported the source as saying that the figure includes casualties in the military operations in the city of al-Basrah starting Tuesday night and until 12 noon Thursday.

Meanwhile, eyewitnesses said that Jaysh al-Mahdi militiamen controlled most streets in the city after nearly four days of an intensive regime offensive against them. The witnesses confirmed that clashes erupt from time to time between the regime’s security forces and the Jaysh al-Mahdi in various parts of the city, including the city center.

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