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Iraqi Resistance
Reports Table of Contents
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Iraqi Resistance Report 1225
Iraqi
Resistance Report for events of Saturday, 19 April 2008. Translated
and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board, the Free
Arab Voice.
http://www.freearabvoice.org
Saturday, 19 April 2008. · Twelve members of Nuri al-Maliki’s staff refuse to return to Iraq from Brussels. · Sadr Movement announces: nearly 400 dead, over 1,300 wounded in three weeks of US offensive against Jaysh al-Mahdi. · Eight Iraqis dead, 60 more wounded in US offensive Friday-Saturday against impoverished Madinat as-Sadr district in Baghdad, stronghold of anti-occupation Jaysh al-Mahdi militia. · US admits American soldier killed in Salah ad-Din Province Friday. · Bomb attack wounds four policemen in an-Nasiriyah in response to US-led offensive against anti-occupation Jaysh al-Mahdi militia. · Muqtada as-Sadr intervenes to defuse tension in al-Basrah; orders followers to vacate headquarters in al-Basrah. · Heavy fighting rages in al-Basrah Saturday between anti-occupation Jaysh al-Mahdi forces and regime troops with Anglo-American air support. Al-Anbar Province. Al-Fallujah. Unmanned US spy plane burns, crashes near al-Fallujah. In a dispatch posted at 6:46pm Baghdad time Saturday afternoon, the Association of Muslim Scholars of Iraq (AMSI) reported that an unmanned US spy plane crashed near the western approaches to the city of al-Fallujah. Baghdad. Twelve members of Nuri al-Maliki’s staff refuse to return to Iraq from Brussels. In a dispatch posted at 7:08pm Baghdad time Saturday afternoon, the Association of Muslim Scholars of Iraq (AMSI) reported that 12 members of the Iraqi regime delegation accompanying US-backed Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to Brussels, Belgium, refused to return to Iraq at the end of their official visit. The AMSI reported an informed source as saying that Iraqi regime spokesman ‘Ali ad-Dabbagh had informed the authorities in Brussels of the decision of the 12 Iraqi officials. The source said that among those who were refusing to return to Iraq were one of al-Maliki’s advisers, some information officers and a number of officials at the ministries of petroleum, trade, and finance. The source said that al-Maliki was greatly irritated by the defection and delayed the departure of his airplane by several hours in an attempt to reverse the situation, but to no avail. The source said that the 12 opted to remain in Belgium after receiving visas allowing them unhindered movement within the European Union countries. Sadr Movement announces: nearly 400 dead, over 1,300 wounded in three weeks of US offensive against Jaysh al-Mahdi. In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 5:59pm Saturday afternoon Beijing time (1:59pm in Baghdad), the Xinhua News Agency reported that the anti-occupation Sadr Movement, headed by Shi‘i religious leader Muqtada as-Sadr, announced that nearly 400 people had died and more than 1,300 had been wounded since the start of the American-led offensive against the Sadr Movement and its Jaysh al-Mahdi militia in late March. Xinhua reported that the Sadr movement had issued a statement Saturday in which it said that 398 people had been killed and 1,331 wounded in the American offensive. In addition, the US and its local allies have destroyed 98 houses and burned many markets, stores and numerous private cars, the statement said. Spokesmen for the US-backed Iraqi Interior Ministry responded by saying that they had no precise data of their own on losses as a result of the offensive because Madinat as-Sadr was blockaded and difficult for them to access because of fighting. The Sadr Movement statement said that the psychological condition of residents of Madinat as-Sadr and the availability of health and other services had severely deteriorated as a result of the three-week old US-imposed blockade on the district. The economy had also been badly damaged, causing severe hardship. The statement noted that the Americans had seized control of the Directorate of Educational Administration in Madinat as-Sadr, thereby shutting down the administration in the district. The equipment, files, and documents in the building were at risk, the statement said, and in addition, the US had upset the running of all schools and educational establishments in the district at the time when preparations for final exams should be underway. Teachers and school administrators have not received their pay for last month, the statement noted and that too has deepened the suffering of the people in the embattled and impoverished district. The Sadr Movement statement concluded with a call to stop the random raids and arrests and the air raids on Madinat as-Sadr, all of which are taking a toll on the civilian population, and to end immediately the blockades imposed on cities, and in particular on Madinat as-Sadr and to remove the concrete barriers that the Americans have erected to shut off whole parts of Iraq from the outside world. Mortar shells blasts into home, wounding civilian at dawn Saturday. In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 6:01pm Saturday afternoon Beijing time (2:01pm in Baghdad), the Xinhua News Agency reported that a mortar shell exploded in a residential home on an-Nidal Street in central Baghdad at dawn Saturday morning. Xinhua reported a source in the government police as saying that the explosion wounded one civilian and damaged the house. Xinhua noted that the attack took place as US forces pressed their offensive against the impoverished Madinat as-Sadr area of Baghdad. Eight Iraqis dead, 60 more wounded in US offensive against impoverished Madinat as-Sadr district in Baghdad, stronghold of anti-occupation Jaysh al-Mahdi militia. In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 5:59pm Saturday afternoon Beijing time (1:59pm in Baghdad), the Xinhua News Agency reported that at least eight people had been killed and more than 60 more injured in American and Iraqi-regime ground attacks and air raids on the impoverished Madinat as-Sadr district of northeastern Baghdad, stronghold of the anti-occupation Jaysh al-Mahdi militia. Xinhua reported a source in the Iraqi government police as saying that fierce fighting raged in Madinat as-Sadr on Friday-Saturday night between the US-backed Iraqi army and the anti-occupation Jaysh al-Mahdi militia. US aircraft carried out air strikes on the district in support of the offensive on the ground, which is believed aimed at eliminating the Jaysh al-Mahdi in order to clear the way for an eventual American attack on Iran. US forces with their Iraqi regime army allies in tow entered broke into several neighborhoods of Madinat as-Sadr where they carried out raids and arrests. The raiders were met, however, with intense gunfire from local residents or Jaysh al-Mahdi fighters. The source reported that at least eight Iraqis had been killed and more than 60 more wounded in the American-led offensive, but offered no information on the nature or extent of US and Iraqi regime casualties. The US has been pressing its offensive against the Jaysh al-Mahdi in Baghdad and elsewhere in the country since the Iraqi regime’s drive against the anti-occupation militia collapsed in defeat towards the end of March. Bomb kills Iraqi regime soldier in western Baghdad late Friday night. In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 6:01pm Saturday afternoon Beijing time (2:01pm in Baghdad), the Xinhua News Agency reported that a bomb exploded by an Iraqi regime army patrol in western Baghdad. US admits American soldier killed in Salah ad-Din Province Friday. In a dispatch posted at 10:01am Baghdad time Saturday morning, the Yaqen News Agency reported that the US military announced that a bomb exploded by a US patrol somewhere in Salah ad-Din Province on Friday evening. Salah ad-Din Province. Bayji. Homemade bomb explodes by US Humvee west of Bayji. In a dispatch posted at 9:05pm Baghdad time Saturday night, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a homemade bomb exploded by a US Humvee near an earthen barrier in the as-Siniyah area, 15km west of Bayji (which is 200km north of Baghdad). Yaqen reported eyewitnesses as saying that the blast set the American vehicle on fire with some of the US troops inside. Earlier, the US had announced the death of one of its soldiers near Bayji, in what might be a reference to the same attack. US troops raid Red Crescent office in Bayji early Saturday. In a dispatch posted at 1:21pm Baghdad time Saturday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that US forces raided the office of the Red Crescent Organization (the Iraqi equivalent of the Red Cross) in the city of Bayji, 200km north of Baghdad, at dawn on Saturday. Yaqen reported that the Americans ransacked the office and then arrested ‘Ali Hamid Majid, a Red Crescent employee, and three of his sons. At-Tarimiyah. Fourteen villagers held following violent US raids in at-Tarimiyah Friday night. In a dispatch posted at 7:10pm Baghdad time Saturday afternoon, the Association of Muslim Scholars of Iraq (AMSI) reported that US and Iraqi regime forces arrested 18 villagers in al-Adhri near at-Tarimiyah, 30km north of Baghdad, on Friday night. Karbala’ Province. Karbala’. Campaign against Jaysh al-Mahdi in Karbala’: Iraqi regime arrests six in Shi‘i holy city. In a dispatch posted at 2:39pm Baghdad time Saturday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that US-backed Iraqi regime security forces arrested six members of the anti-occupation Jaysh al-Mahdi militia in the city of Karbala’. At-Ta’mim Province. Kirkuk. Policeman killed in bomb blast. In a dispatch posted at 3:39pm Baghdad time Saturday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a bomb exploded by a police patrol to the southwest of Kirkuk, 250km north of Baghdad. Car bomb wounds four in Kirkuk. In a dispatch posted at 1:38pm Baghdad time Saturday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a car bomb exploded in southern Kirkuk, 250km north of Baghdad. Ninwa Province. Al-Mawsil. Bomb kills two Iraqi civilians, wounds 12 more in eastern al-Mawsil midday Saturday. In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 7:46pm Saturday evening Beijing time (3:46pm in Baghdad), the Xinhua News Agency reported that a bomb exploded by a passenger bus near the parking lot in eastern al-Mawsil, 420km northwest of Baghdad at midday Saturday. Xinhua reported a source in the government police as saying that the blast was targeted on an American patrol in the area but exploded by mistake as a passenger bys was driving past. The explosion killed two Iraqi civilians aboard the bus and wounded 12 more, five of them women. The bus was totally destroyed and several cars and buildings in the area were damaged. The wounded were taken to al-Mawsil General Hospital for treatment. Al-Mawsil has recently been the scene of activity by the al-Qa‘idah organization. Dhi Qar Province. An-Nasiriyah. Regime claims seven Jaysh al-Mahdi fighters killed in fighting around Suq ash-Shuyukh. In a dispatch posted at 7:40pm Baghdad time Saturday evening, the Yaqen News Agency reported that the fighting that raged between Iraqi regime forces and the anti-occupation Jaysh al-Mahdi militia in the an-Nasiriyah area Friday night and Saturday left seven Jaysh al-Mahdi fighters dead and one under arrest, according to a source in the Iraqi regime police. Bomb attack wounds four policemen in an-Nasiriyah in response to US-led offensive against anti-occupation Jaysh al-Mahdi militia. In a dispatch posted at 12:45pm Baghdad time midday Saturday, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a bomb exploded by a troop of Iraqi regime police in the Suq ash-Shuyukh area of an-Nasiriyah, 320km south of Baghdad. Al-Basrah Province. Al-Basrah. Muqtada as-Sadr intervenes to defuse tension in al-Basrah; orders followers to vacate headquarters in al-Basrah. In a dispatch posted at 5:25pm Baghdad time Saturday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that Harith al-‘Adhari, a prominent official in the Sadr Movement in al-Basrah, had announced that his organization would vacate the Sadr Movement office in the building belonging to the Iraqi Olympic Committee on Saturday afernoon, in keeping with a demand issued by the Iraqi regime. The announcement followed the blockading of the building by regime troops backed up with British armored detachments. Yaqen reported al-‘Adhari as saying: “at the moment operations are under way to vacate the Olympic Committee building that the Sadr Movement has used for its offices for the last five years, and we will be ready to hand it over today (Saturday) afternoon.” Al-‘Adhari said: “the move to vacate the building has been undertaken following receipt of orders from Muqtada as-Sadr, the leader of the Sadrist Movement, and in accordance with the obligation to comply with a decree of the government to vacate the government-owned building and hand it over to officials.” Heavy fighting rages in al-Basrah between anti-occupation Jaysh al-Mahdi forces and regime troops with Anglo-American air support. In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 5:47pm Saturday afternoon Beijing time 1:47pm in Baghdad), the Xinhua News Agency reported that fierce fighting erupted between Iraqi regime security forces and the anti-occupation Jaysh al-Mahdi in the western part of al-Basrah 550km southeast of Baghdad at dawn on Saturday. Xinhua reported a source in the regime security forces as saying that the government troops with air cover from Anglo-American aircraft attacked the al-Hayyaniyah area, 8km west of al-Basrah sparking a battle with local Jaysh al-Mahdi militiamen that was still raging at the time of reporting. The fighting followed the Jaysh al-Mahdi’s intensive bombardment of Iraqi army positions during the night, according to the regime source. A spokesman for the Sadr Office in the city said that the Jaysh al-Mahdi bombardment of the regime positions had, in turn, been a response to the blockade of the Sadr Office in the city. Iraqi regime forces together with British tanks sealed off the area around the Sadr Office and demanded that it be vacated within 48 hours on Friday. On Saturday, eyewitnesses in the al-Hayyan district told Xinhua that fierce fighting in which all types of weapons from light arms to heavy weapons and war planes was raging in their area. Witnesses said “Iraqi forces launched a powerful attack on the al-Hayyaniyah area, stronghold of the Jaysh al-Mahdi in al-Basrah, at dawn today, in an attempt to seize control of it. The Jaysh al-Mahdi attempted to prevent those forces from getting in, but the intensive bombardment by the Iraqi army enabled it to seize control of the major cities in al-Hayyaniyah. The witnesses said that there are dead and wounded as a result of the fighting but precise numbers were not known because heavy fighting was still underway and a curfew had been imposed on the area. The US is believed to be behind the offensive on the Jaysh al-Mahdi as part of its preparations for an eventual attack on Iran. Later, in a dispatch posted at 8:15pm Baghdad time, the Yaqen News Agency reported a source in the Iraqi regime police as claiming that government forces had taken the al-Hayyaniyah area under their control without resistance. He announced that “numerous wanted men” had been arrested and that regime troops had taken rooftops of the area under control. 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