Fighting flared across Iraq on Friday as US-led coalition troops battled militiamen loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in several cities for a second day in an apparent resurgence of the widespread Shiite rebellion that ended two months ago.
The two days of fighting left dozens dead and wounded over 100 others, witnesses and officials said.
In the holy city of Najaf in southern Iraq, helicopter gunships pounded militant positions in fierce fighting that started Thursday and spread to other Shiite areas, including Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood.
Clashes were also reported Friday between US troops and insurgents north of the capital in Samarra.
Elsewhere, Italian soldiers exchanged gunfire with militants who attacked their positions and a police station in the southern city of Nasiriyah, an Italian military spokesman said.
The fighting raised fears of a return of the large-scale uprising launched in April by al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, which at that time battled US and coalition troops in several cities in the first major Shiite violence against the US personnel.
Al-Sadr's aides called yesterday for a return to the truce and asked for the UN and Iraq's interim government to stop the violence.
"We call upon the government -- that has announced that it is sovereign -- to intervene to stop the American attacks," Mahmoud al-Sudani, a spokesman of al-Sadr in Baghdad, told reporters.
In Najaf, 160km south of Baghdad, US choppers attacked militants hiding in a cemetery near the Imam Ali Shrine in the old city at Najaf's center, where smoke could be seen rising.
Gunfire and explosions rang out as US soldiers and Iraqi policemen advanced toward the area, witnesses said. The streets were otherwise deserted and shops were closed.
Battles between the two sides in Najaf have killed at least 10 people and wounded 40 others, according to Hussein Hadi of Najaf General Hospital official. The US military said Thursday it had lost one soldier in the battle, killed seven militants and detained dozens of people.
Ahmed al-Shaibany, an official with al-Sadr's office in Najaf, described the clashes yesterday as "fierce."
"The area near the [Imam Ali Shrine] is being subjected to a war," he said. "Najaf is being subjected to ... total destruction," he said. "We call on the Islamic world and the civilized world to save the city."
The US military has accused the militants of hiding in the shrine compound to avoid retaliation by US forces.
In the southern city of Nasiriyah, assailants attacked Italian troops with automatic weapons, an Italian military spokesman said on condition of anonymity. They also attacked a police station, prompting the local governor to call for Italian military assistance, he said. There were no coalition casualties, the spokesman said.
The fighting, which lasted until dawn yesterday, killed eight Iraqis, including five militants, and injured 13 others, according to Abdel Khuder al-Tahir, a senior Interior Ministry official.
"Today, the city is more stable. Policemen and National Guard are in control of government buildings one side of the city, while Italian forces are in control of the other side," he said.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
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