Iraqi forces backed by United States soldiers and marines raided mosques on Tuesday in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi and detained a prominent cleric following fierce clashes that hospital officials said killed at least four people.
American aircraft also fired rockets a mosque north-west of Ramadi on Monday after insurgents opened fire from there on US marines, the US command said.
The seven mosques targeted in Ramadi are suspected of supporting insurgents through a range of activities, including harbouring terrorists, storing illegal weapons caches, promoting violence and encouraging insurgent recruitment, the command said.
Sheikh Abdul-Aleim Saadi, the provincial leader of the influential Association of Muslim Scholars, was detained at Mohammed Aref Mosque, his relatives and followers said.
Angry residents accused Americans of disrespecting the sanctity of city mosques.
”This cowboy behaviour cannot be accepted,” said cleric Abdullah Abu Omar of the Ramadi Mosque. ”The Americans seem to have lost their senses and have gone out of control.”
The First Marine Division said the raids followed a pattern of insurgent activity in and around Ramadi mosques in recent weeks.
”The First Marine Division respects the religious and cultural significance represented by mosques,” it said in a statement. ”However, when insurgents violate the sanctity of the mosque by using the structure for military purposes, the site loses its protective status.”
The participation of US marines and soldiers in the raids was limited to supporting Iraqi security forces, said Brigadier General Joseph Dunford, assistant division commander of the First Marine Division.
The raids followed two days of clashes in the city, a Sunni militant stronghold 113km west of Baghdad.
Insurgents fired two mortars at the city hall and neighbouring police directorate on Monday night, sparking gunfire and rocket-propelled grenade exchanges, residents said.
Three police officers and a civilian were killed, said Dr Dhia Abdul-Karim, at the city hospital.
US forces have also clashed with insurgents holed up in mosques in other areas.
On Monday, US aircraft attacked a mosque in the nearby town of Hit and set it on fire after insurgents hiding in the shrine opened fire on American marines, the US military said.
In Mosul, 360km north-west of Baghdad, insurgents opened fire from a mosque after a car bomb exploded in front of a US convoy, the military said. One US soldier was killed and nine were wounded, the military said. City hospitals reported at least two Iraqis killed and 18 wounded.
US and Iraqi forces are trying to clamp down on rebel enclaves in time to hold nationwide elections in January.
Fallujah ‘terrorist’ restaurant destroyed
In insurgent-held Fallujah, US warplanes struck twice early on Tuesday, destroying a popular restaurant and a house that the US command said were used by members of Iraq’s most feared terrorist organisation. At least five people were killed and two wounded, the city hospital said.
A 12.01am blast flattened the Haj Hussein restaurant as well as nearby shops, residents said. The restaurant was closed at the time, but two night guards were killed, said Dr Ahmed Thaer of Fallujah General hospital.
The US military command in Baghdad made no mention of the restaurant but said the target was used as a meeting place for the Tawhid and Jihad terror network, led by Jordanian-born extremist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
”Following the engagement, secondary explosions were reported, indicating the strong likelihood of weapons caches and explosive devices,” the statement said. ”Terrorists frequently planned operations from this location.”
The second blast occurred at 4.02am and flattened a building in north-eastern Fallujah, which the military said was a known terrorist safe house. Intelligence sources confirmed that al-Zarqawi associates were using the building at the time of the strike, a military statement said.
At least three people were killed and two wounded in that blast, Thaer said.
Al-Zarqawi’s network has claimed responsibility for numerous car bombings, kidnappings and beheadings of foreign hostages, including American businessman Nicholas Berg, South Korean translator Kim Sung-il, British civil engineer Kenneth Bigley and US engineers Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley.
US commanders say weeks of air and ground strikes in Fallujah have inflicted serious damage to al-Zarqawi’s network.
Tuesday’s strikes were the first since October 6. The Iraqi government has reported progress in negotiations to restore control over the city 65km west of Baghdad.
Baghdad disarmament programme starts
The latest violence came a day after Shi’ite fighters in Baghdad’s Sadr City slum unloaded cars full of machine guns, mortars and land mines as a five-day, weapons-for-cash disarmament programme got started.
A lasting peace in the sprawling slum would allow US and Iraqi forces to focus on the mounting Sunni insurgency in Fallujah, Ramadi and elsewhere. Underscoring the threat, two American soldiers were killed in a rocket attack in another part of the capital on Monday.
In Sadr City, followers of radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr promised the government last weekend they would hand over medium and heavy weapons for cash in a deal considered an important step toward ending weeks of fighting with US and Iraqi forces. Iraqi police and national guardsmen will then assume security responsibility for the district, which is home to more than two million people.
In return, the government has pledged to start releasing al-Sadr followers who have not committed crimes, suspend raids and rebuild the war-ravaged slum. — Sapa-AP