Iraq Watch: October 27, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A clash between Shiite militiamen and Sunni rebels in Nahrawan, 15 miles southeast of Baghdad, left at least 19 people dead on Thursday.
The fighting broke out when members of the Mahdi army, loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, stormed a house where a fellow al-Sadr supporter was reportedly being held captive by Sunni insurgents. After freeing the hostage the Shiite militiman were attempting to leave the religiously-mixed town when they were ambushed. The insuing firefight killed at least 17 Mahdi army members as well as two Iraqi policemen. Dozens more were wounded in the sectarian battle.
Meanwhile, three U.S. soldiers were killed in separate incidents yesterday in Iraq the U.S. military announced on Thursday. Two soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing in eastern Baghdad. Another U.S. service member died and four more were wounded in an IED and small-arms fire attack yesterday around 11:15 a.m. near Ashraf, north of Baghdad.
Elsewhere Thursday, Lt. Colonel Mahdi Hussein was killed by gunmen in Baghdad's southern Dora district. A similar drive-by shooting killed another police colonel in the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
An early-morning suicide car bombing in the capital left at least one Iraqi dead and nearly ten others injured. In Baquba, nort of Baghdad, two Iraqi policemen were killed in separate incidents.
In political developments, ahead of Friday's deadline to submit coalitions and parties for December's parliamentary elections, the powerful Shiite political group which dominated the nations elections in January agreed to run together again. The United Iraqi Alliance, which includes the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and the Dawa Party among others, received over 48% of the votes in Iraq's January 30 national assembly elections.
The amount of political success the bloc will have in the upcoming December elections is still uncertain, however, with word that the group's principal supporter Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani - the most revered Shiite religious figure in Iraq - will not give his personal endorsement to the party as he had previously. Senior aids to al-Sistani say the Iranian-born cleric is upset with the performance of the current Shiite-led Iraqi government.
The fighting broke out when members of the Mahdi army, loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, stormed a house where a fellow al-Sadr supporter was reportedly being held captive by Sunni insurgents. After freeing the hostage the Shiite militiman were attempting to leave the religiously-mixed town when they were ambushed. The insuing firefight killed at least 17 Mahdi army members as well as two Iraqi policemen. Dozens more were wounded in the sectarian battle.
Meanwhile, three U.S. soldiers were killed in separate incidents yesterday in Iraq the U.S. military announced on Thursday. Two soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing in eastern Baghdad. Another U.S. service member died and four more were wounded in an IED and small-arms fire attack yesterday around 11:15 a.m. near Ashraf, north of Baghdad.
Elsewhere Thursday, Lt. Colonel Mahdi Hussein was killed by gunmen in Baghdad's southern Dora district. A similar drive-by shooting killed another police colonel in the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
An early-morning suicide car bombing in the capital left at least one Iraqi dead and nearly ten others injured. In Baquba, nort of Baghdad, two Iraqi policemen were killed in separate incidents.
In political developments, ahead of Friday's deadline to submit coalitions and parties for December's parliamentary elections, the powerful Shiite political group which dominated the nations elections in January agreed to run together again. The United Iraqi Alliance, which includes the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and the Dawa Party among others, received over 48% of the votes in Iraq's January 30 national assembly elections.
The amount of political success the bloc will have in the upcoming December elections is still uncertain, however, with word that the group's principal supporter Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani - the most revered Shiite religious figure in Iraq - will not give his personal endorsement to the party as he had previously. Senior aids to al-Sistani say the Iranian-born cleric is upset with the performance of the current Shiite-led Iraqi government.
posted by Todd @ 12:47 AM
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