Mortar Attack Hits al-Sadr Compound...

[bridgit]

'NAJAF, March 26 -- A mortar attack hit the compound of Moqtada al-Sadr, the powerful Shiite cleric and militia leader on Sunday, injuring one guard and a child, a top Sadr aide said. Sadr was inside his house at the time of the attack but escaped injury, aide Mostafa Yacoubi said.

Two 82mm mortar rounds hit the Shiite cleric's compound, which is in a neighborhood controlled by Sadr's forces in the northeast of the Shiite holy city of Najaf.

Shortly after the attack, the cleric issued this signed statement calling for calm:

"We have received news that the occupation forces want to force the Iraqis into war and disaster -- especially my party, known as the Sadr trend. Thus, I call upon my brothers not to be dragged into the West's plots. So everybody should keep calm. I call upon the Iraqi Armed forces to protect the pilgrims...and cooperate as the militants are lurking among us with conspiracies."'

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/26/AR2006032600236.html?nav=rss_email/components

[bridgit]

1. US forces kill 18 Iraqis in Baghdad clash...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 18 Iraqis were killed on Sunday after U.S. troops clashed with a Shi'ite militia, medics and police said.

Police said the clashes erupted after the Mehdi Army militia loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr tried to stop U.S. troops from entering a mosque. A medic said 18 bodies were found around the mosque.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2006-03-26T180443Z_01_GEO664343_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-CLASHES.xml

[bridgit]

2. Amid confusion, Iraq Shi'ites accuse US troops...

'BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Politicians from Iraq's Shi'ite majority accused U.S. troops of massacring 20 worshippers at a Baghdad mosque on Sunday but police and residents said many died in clashes between Shi'ite militia fighters and Americans.

U.S. military spokesmen declined comment on the accusations but issued a statement describing a raid by Iraqi special forces, with U.S. advisers, on a building that was not a mosque in roughly the same area. It said 16 insurgents were killed.

Police said U.S. forces clashed with the Mehdi Army militia of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, killing 20 fighters.'

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2006-03-27T002313Z_01_L17519334_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ.xml

[bridgit]

3. 16 Sadr Loyalists Killed in Assault...

'BAGHDAD, March 26 -- U.S. and Iraqi special forces killed at least 16 followers of the Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Sunday in a twilight assault on what the U.S. military said was a "terrorist cell" responsible for attacks on soldiers and civilians.

Also Sunday, Iraqi forces found 30 headless bodies in an area north of the capital. A health official said the killings appeared to have taken place earlier in the day.'

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/26/AR2006032600883.html?nav=rss_email/components

[Renew Deal]

4. I bet we did that.

What better way for americans to attack Sadr without attacking Sadr. And I bet we're real good with the mortars.

[bigtree]

5. "western plots"

". . . militants are lurking among us with conspiracies."