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From Today's NY Times:
Taken from
April 6, 2004 Article
8 Americans Dead in Iraq Clashes Since Weekend, U.S. Says
By CHRISTINE HAUSER
and KIRK SEMPLE
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*snip*
In Najaf, an aide to Mr. Sadr said at a news conference that the uprising by the cleric's supporters would continue until occupying troops were withdrawn from populated areas and prisoners were released, Reuters reported.
The aide, Qays al-Khazali, also read a statement from Mr. Sadr denouncing President Bush as "the great evil."
"This insurrection shows that the Iraqi people are not satisfied with the occupation and they will not accept oppression," the statement said.
He called on all countries to withdraw their soldiers from Iraq.
Mr. Sadr, who is being sought by American and Iraqi authorities, had been holed up in a mosque in the city of Kufa and had vowed to stay in the mosque until his demands were met. But he said in the statement that he had decided to leave that sanctuary because he feared it would be raided by foreign troops.
Mr. Sadr was reported to have traveled to Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, earlier today.
On Monday, American administrators declared Mr. Sadr an "outlaw" and disclosed that an Iraqi judge had issued a warrant for his arrest in connection with the murder of a rival cleric last April.
Mr. Bremer, in an interview on CNN today, pledged to arrest Mr. Sadr.
"He believes that in the new Iraq, like in the old Iraq, power should be with the guy who's got the guns, and that's an unacceptable vision for Iraq," he said. "He represents a fundamental challenge to the rule of law in Iraq, and it will not stand."
American and Iraqi forces that have amassed on the outskirts of Falluja have begun conducting raids in the city in what Donald H. Rumsfeld, the United States defense secretary, called "a methodical effort" to find and capture the people responsible for killing the four American military contractors last week in Falluja. Speaking at a televised news conference in Norfolk, Va., Mr. Rumsfeld said today that coalition forces had gone after "high-value targets" and captured or killed several people since the weekend.
Explosions and gunfire were heard in the city throughout the night and into this morning, though The Associated Press reported that the majority of the American-led force remained on the outskirts of the city. Marines pushed into an industrial zone in the eastern part of the city, clashing with guerrillas, the agency said.
Elsewhere in Iraq, fighting flared between coalition troops and guerrillas. Italian troops clashed with Mr. Sadr's Mehdi Army militia in Nasiriya, Reuters reported. Four Italian vehicles were set ablaze during the predawn fighting and 12 Italian soldiers were wounded. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said in a statement that he was committed to keeping Italian troops in Iraq.
*snip*
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