Demands for the government to resign have led to deadly clashes since October 1
The movement of radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on Saturday it had struck a deal with the Iraqi government to end fighting in its Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City. Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi, the spokesperson for the cleric’s office in the central shrine city of Najaf, said the deal will be effective from Sunday.
Iraqi Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr will consult senior religious leaders and disband his Mehdi Army militia if they instruct him to, a senior aide said on Monday. The surprise announcement was the first time Sadr has proposed dissolving the Mehdi Army, one of the principle actors in Iraq’s five-year-old conflict.
Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called on Iraqis to stage sit-ins and threatened a countrywide ”civil revolt” if attacks by United States and Iraqi security forces continue against his followers. ”We call upon all Iraqis to stage sit-ins all over Iraq as a first step,” Sadr said in a statement read out by senior aide Hazem al-Araji.
No image available
/ 15 September 2007
The movement of radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on Saturday it would withdraw from the Shi’ite bloc that leads the Iraqi government, in a new blow to the faltering political process. ”The Sadr bloc will hold a press conference in Najaf this evening [Saturday] where it will announce its decision to withdraw from the Shi’ite alliance,” Sadr spokesperson Saleh al-Obeidi said.
Iraq’s radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Wednesday ordered his Mehdi Army militia to suspend its activities for six months in a bid to reorganise the militant group. ”I direct the Mehdi Army to suspend all its activities for six months until it is restructured in a way that helps honour the principles for which it is formed,” Sadr said in a statement.
Baghdad was under curfew on Monday, the fourth anniversary of the fall of the capital to United States forces, as Iraqis gathered in the city of Najaf for a big anti-US protest called by fiery cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. ”No, no, to the occupation; no, no to America,” thousands of marching Iraqis chanted as they marched through the southern city.
No image available
/ 21 February 2007
Bombers and gunmen launched bloody attacks in several Iraqi cities on Wednesday, killing more than 20 people on the day Britain and Denmark announced they would begin withdrawing their troops. In the worst assault, a suicide car bomber struck in the Shi’ite holy city of Najaf, detonating explosives as a police patrol stopped him from entering the old city home to the revered Imam Ali Mausoleum.
A suicide bomber killed at least 35 people and wounded over 90 near a sacred Shi’ite shrine in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf on Thursday, hospital sources said. They said the bomber blew himself up when he was stopped at a police commando checkpoint as he was heading to the Imam Ali shrine.
Thousands of Shi’ites, many waving Islam’s holy book over their heads, protested the United States-led occupation in Iraq on Thursday, setting off clashes in at least one southern city as they answered a call by a radical cleric to paint Israeli and American flags on the ground and stomp on them.
No image available
/ 20 December 2004
Iraqi Shi’ite leaders braced on Monday for greater violence but vowed to push ahead with elections in January after twin car bombs claimed the lives of 66 people in the pilgrimage cities of Najaf and Karbala. The bombings were a stark reminder of the violence that could lie ahead in the six weeks before the January 30 elections.
The noise of the two Black Hawk helicopters shattered the eerie silence that on Saturday had enveloped the city of Najaf. On board were a team of five Iraqi ministers led by Minister of State Kasim Daoud. They landed and were driven in a convoy, led by police cars with sirens wailing, through streets littered with the wreckage of battle, to the sacred Imam Ali shrine to inspect the damage.
It’s peace but the dead are everywhere
Iraq’s top Shi’ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani, arrived at the gates of the holy city of Najaf on Thursday in a bid to end weeks of fighting between United States forces and Iraqi insurgents there, his aides said. Al-Sistani left the city of Basra in a 30-vehicle convoy of sport utility vehicles earlier on Thursday.
Najaf uprising seems to be near end
Followers loyal to radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on Friday they were prepared to hand control of the revered Imam Ali Shrine to top Shi’ite religious authorities in a bid to end a two-week-old uprising in the holy city of Najaf. United States tanks were on the streets, but residents reported seeing some of al-Sadr’s Mehdi army militia pulling out of the city.
Najaf faces final assault
A barrage of mortar rounds slammed into a police station in the holy city of Najaf on Thursday, killing at least seven police officers and wounding 31 others, a hospital official said. The police station has been the frequent target of attacks from militants loyal to radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
An Iraqi Cabinet minister said on Thursday that Iraqi forces could begin an offensive against Moqtada al-Sadr within hours, despite the firebrand cleric’s acceptance of a peace proposal. To prevent an imminent attack on his forces, al-Sadr must immediately disarm his Mehdi Army militia.
Mortar rounds hit police station
Helicopter gunships opened fire on Shi’ite militants hiding in Najaf’s massive cemetery on Tuesday as United States patrols armed with speakers warned the militants to leave the city immediately. US tanks drove into the cemetery, explosions shook the streets and black smoke rose over parts of the city.
Violence spreads in Iraq
United States planes pounded the central Iraqi holy city of Najaf on Friday as intense clashes raged between US forces and Shi’ite Muslim militiamen in the worst fighting since a truce was agreed in June. More than 50 people were killed and more than 170 wounded as the unrest fanned out across Shi’ite central and southern Iraq.
Shia rising fear after Najaf battle
The governor of Najaf said on Tuesday a fresh truce has been reached between United States-led coalition forces and the militia of firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in an effort to end weeks of battles. US troops will halt patrols in the city and withdraw to five bases in Najaf, chiefly outside the governor’s office and the police headquarters.
Shiite Muslim radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr has offered to withdraw his fighters from the Iraqi holy city of Najaf if United States forces pull out as part of a deal to end weeks of bitter fighting. Al-Sadr also called for the postponement of legal proceedings against him over his alleged role in the murder of a rival cleric.
One of the most sacred shrines of Shia Islam suffered minor damage during clashes on Tuesday between United States forces and radical Shiite militiamen that killed at least 13 Iraqis, some of them civilians. It was unclear who was responsible for the damage to the shrine.
Explosions and gunfire erupted inside the Shiite Muslim holy city of Najaf on Friday as United States forces sought to crush the last major insurgency in Iraq ahead of the June 30 return of sovereignty. Meanwhile, more allegations of torture surfaced at the infamous US-run Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad.
US forces taught torture techniques
No image available
/ 3 September 2003
Poland took control of a large chunk of Iraq on Wednesday, becoming the third country after the United States and Britain to accept official responsibility as an occupying force.
About 10 000 young men have come forward to join an ”Islamic army” in the holy city of Najaf, according to Muqtada al-Sadr, the fiery cleric who is trying to become the unchallengeable leader of Iraq’s Shia opposition.