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Clashes heat up, Iraqi civilians
die
Press
TV
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Scores of Iraqis have been killed as the US and Iraqi troops
clash with the followers of Moqtada Sadr in different parts of
the country.
The deadliest clashes were in Basra, where at least 47 people
were killed and 223 wounded in the two days of fighting, hospital
officials said.
The clashes in Baghdad also left 39 dead and dozens wounded -
23 of those killed were in Sadr City.
A mortar barrage struck homes amid clashes in the Shia city of
Kut, southeast of Baghdad, killing 15 civilians, including a woman
and her grandson, according to police.
(Article continues below)
Fighting also broke out between elements of Sadr's Mahdi Army
and Iraqi troops backed by US helicopters in Hilla, 100 km south
of Baghdad, where more than 60 gunmen were killed on Wednesday,
Aswat al-Iraq (VOI) reported.
Hundreds of Shias took to the streets in Sadr City and Karbala
on Wednesday, demanding the government stop military operations
in Basra and other cities and withdraw all security forces.
The Sadrists are angry over recent raids and detentions, saying
US and Iraqi forces have taken advantage of the August cease-fire
to crack down on the movement.
They have accused rival Shia parties, which control Iraqi security
forces, of engineering the arrests to prevent them from mounting
an effective campaign after the Iraqi parliament agreed in February
to hold provincial elections by the fall.
Iraqi officials and the US military insist the fight is not against
al-Sadr's movement but its breakaway factions.
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INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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