[THS] Iraq Stories

[Peter Webster]

Iraq: At least 55 killed in another bloody day of US occupation: 
 
A U.S. helicopter gunship fired a missile, killing two "gunmen" in eastern Baghdad on Saturday, the U.S. military said.
http://tinyurl.com/4av487
 
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Nasseriya city''s clashes results in 25 deaths in S. Iraq : 
 
Major Majid Al-Fadeli told KUNA that Iraqi security forces raided Al-Sadr office in a local market at Nasseriya city, indicated that first reports indicated that 20 gunmen were killed while four policemen and one civilian met their fates.
http://tinyurl.com/3p53yr
 
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Fierce fighting rages in Basra -- witnesses : 
 
Fierce fighting broke out on Saturday between militiamen loyal to the radical Shiite cleric, Muqtada Al-Sadr, and Iraqi government forces in the southern city of Basra, witnesses said.
http://tinyurl.com/4hbm46
 
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Sadr City Fighters Lay Defenses Amid Latest Official Efforts at Calm : 
 
As the cleric Moktada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army fighters squatted in the Sadr City district's main highways on Friday, planting homemade bombs less than a mile from Iraqi and American troops, his political bloc offered on Friday to negotiate with the Iraqi government to end fighting in the area. 
http://tinyurl.com/4r2kqh
 
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Iraqi Cleric Sadr Threatens 'Open War': 
 
Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al Sadr has threatened "open war" if the crackdown by Iraqi and US forces against his loyalists continues.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1313362,00.html?f=rss
 
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Iranian ambassador lashes U.S. offensive in Baghdad's Sadr City : 
 
"We criticize the pounding of cities and the siege of people, which will aggravate the situations and make things worse," ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qomi told a news conference at the Iranian Embassy. 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/20/content_8012630.htm
 
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Battle to retake Basra was 'complete disaster': 
 
The British-trained Iraqi Army's attempt to retake Basra from militiamen was an "unmitigated disaster at every level", British commanders have disclosed.
http://tinyurl.com/5srxem
 
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Civil war breaks out among Sunni : 
 
A series of suicide bombings have shown over the past week that al-Qa'ida in Iraq, though battered by defections over the past year, is striking back remorselessly at Sunni Arab leaders who ally themselves to the US.
http://tinyurl.com/52dwwc
 
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Al Qaeda offers head of American as 'gift to Bush': 
 
A leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq has announced a one-month campaign in which the group will "offer the head of an American" as a gift to US President George W Bush, according to an audiotape made public.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/20/2221875.htm?section=justin
 
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Iran: Claims of support for Iraqi insurgency unfounded: 
 
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Iran Thursday to end its backing for Shia militias. She also told reporters in Washington that she has no plans to meet Iran's foreign minister at the conference next week.
http://tinyurl.com/3fqtl2