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Iraq

Iraqi paramilitaries threaten ‘revenge’ after offices torched

2019-10-27

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The heads of powerful Iraqi paramilitary factions threatened they would take "Dire Revenge" on Saturday after their offices in the south of the country were torched during deadly protests.

Demonstrators set fire to dozens of government buildings and offices belonging to the Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) militias better known as Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitary force across southern cities late Friday.

In Missan province, the headquarters of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq, one of the PMU militias, was torched and a leading commander of the group reportedly killed.

Wissam al-Alyawi was later pronounced dead by the group, after footage circulated online showing him writhing in an ambulance as a crowd of men tried to break into it.

Asaib chief Qais al-Khazaali was in Baghdad on Saturday for the funeral procession of Alyawi and his brother Issam, apparently killed in the same incident.

"His blood is on America and Israel’s hands, but I will take Dire Revenge - many times over," Khazaali told mourners, holding back tears as he stood next to their wailing mother.

"This blood is proof to all our people of the size of the conspiracy that is targeting us," he said.

Dozens of PMUs fighters were gathered in military fatigues for the procession in central Baghdad, just a few districts south of where protests were taking place in Tahrir (Liberation) Square.

Another paramilitary force, Saraya al-Salam, had also been spotted in Baghdad in recent days after their leader

Moqtada Tater al-Sadr
... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah...
threw his weight behind the demonstrations.

The Badr Organization, a powerful Iranian-backed gang whose offices were set alight in the southern city of Diwaniyah, also blamed Israel and the United States for Alyawi’s death.

"They don’t want a stable Iraq. They want to pull it into discord and chaos," said its head Hadi al-Ameri, who also attended the funeral.

And Harakat Nujaba, an Iraqi paramilitary faction close to Iran, warned protesters to stay peaceful. "Take a careful look, and let us be united," it said in an online statement.

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Iraq

Iraqi militia: Lebanese arrest order for commander ‘politicized’

2018-01-24

[Iraq News] An Iraqi paramilitary group denounced on Tuesday a reported order by Lebanese authorities to arrest and deny entry for its top commander after he was seen at Leb’s borders with Israel.

Naeem al-Aboudi, a spokesperson of Asaeb Ahl al-Haq, a component of the Popular Mobilization Forces, said in press statements, quoted by NRT, that a reported Lebanese judicial order to deny entry for the group’s secretary-general, Qais al-Khazaali, is "politicized".

"Kahzaali is accused of having entered Leb illegally. That is untrue, because he made an official visit to Leb through Rafik al-Hariri Airport," Aboudi argued.

A video purporting to show Khazaali, along with members from Lebanese militia Hezbollah, had caused an uproar in Leb December as he appeared in a military suit touring the borders with Israel.

"If he was wearing a military suit, that is not banned by Lebanese law. We have hired a lawyer in Leb to reverse the order," Aboudi said.

Many viewed the video as a response from Hezbollah to the Lebanese government’s declared neutrality to regional polarization, especially towards Iran.

Hezbollah and the Iraqi PMF, both comprising fighters from the Shia Islam sect, are widely understood to enjoy strong military support from Iran.

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Arabia

Who is Qais al-Khazaali, godfather of Iranian-backed Shiite militias?

2017-12-12

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A video showing the leader of Iraq’s Iranian-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia, Qais Khazaali, appearing at the Lebanese-Israeli border earlier this week has prompted widespread debate.

He was seen in the footage in military uniform, meeting with Hezbollah factions and announced: "The whole country together with Hezbollah is ready to fight and prelude to the Islamic state that is ruled by the Awaited Mahdi."

This produced a wide discussion about the character of Khazaali who just a few months ago took over the task of announcing the Badr Organization, an Iraqi Shiite militia that is fully Iranian-backed.

Following the spread of a video of the visit that showed aKhazaali entering the country illegally, Leb’s Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri demanded to ban him from entering Leb. He also called on carrying out the "necessary measures and investigations to prevent any person from carrying out activities of a military nature on Lebanese territory," according to a statement released by his office.

His appearance attracted further widespread condemnation among other Lebanese government officials.

But who is Khazaali?
Qais al-Khazaali was born in the city of al-Sadr, east of Baghdad in 1974. He completed his highschool education in the Iraqi capital where he also went on to study Geology at university.

He then began focusing on religious studies, and was taught under the mentorship of religious authority Muhammad Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr. He later worked at al-Sadr’s office.

After al-Sadr was killed in 1999, Khazaali remained close to al-Sadr’s fourth son, and helped him with propaganda, security and finances.

After the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, Khazaali created the special groups to fight alongside Akram al-Kaaby, the leader of the al-Nujba Iraqi Shiite militia. Both men later created the Asaib Ahl al-Haq in 2006.

British forces tossed in the calaboose
You have the right to remain silent...
and imprisoned Khazaali, his brother and a number of their followers in 2007 for two and a half years. At the end of 2009, the Asaib Ahl al-Haq group captured five British employees from inside the Ministry of Finance in Baghdad. They were then exchanged for Khazaali the following year.

As time went by, and American and British forces withdrew from Iraq, Khazaali began to get involved in politics and ran for parliament in 2014.

The Asaib Ahl al-Haq group receives training and finances from Iran, and is composed of a number of brigades geographically distributed into combat missions. They fight with about 4,000 of those brigades in Syria to save the Bashir al-Assad regime, under the leadership of the Iranian revolutionary guard.

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Iraq

Barzani vows ‘strong’ response to any attempt to seize Kirkuk

2017-09-03

[Iraq News] Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani has vowed to “strongly” react to any attempt to take over Kirkuk province for which it engages in a sovereignty dispute with the Iraqi central government.

“Kirkuk is Kurdish….any force that thinks of taking Kirkuk by force will be faced by the whole people of Kurdistan. We will defend it until the last one of us,” a number of Iraqi news websites quoted him saying in press statements.

“Kirkuk is not only Kurdish, it is for Kurds, Arabs and Christians…we shall make it a model of coexistence,” Barzani stated.

Barzani’s statements came a few hours after remarks by a senior Shia militia leader who threatened to consider Kurdistan an “enemy” if it includes Kirkuk in its September 25th referendum on independence from Iraq.

Qais al-Khazaali, commander of Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, a component of the Popular Mobilization Forces, said Kurdistan’s inclusion of Kirkuk as a voting district during the anticipated vote is “a serious matter that needs an official, decisive response”.

Addressing Barzani, Khazaali said that if the referendum leads to secession from Iraq, Iraqis will consider territories under Kurdish control as “occupied lands”.

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Iraq

Iran denies link to 2007 kidnap of Britons in Iraq

2010-01-01

[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran meanwhile denied a British media report that the abduction of a British computer expert in Iraq in 2007 had been masterminded by the elite Revolutionary Guards, television reported.

"These claims are baseless," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying by al-Alam, a state-controlled Arabic language satellite news channel.

"They (claims) emanate from the British anger towards the rallies in which millions of Iranians took part to condemn British interference in (Iran's) internal affairs," he said.

Earlier the Guardian newspaper said Peter Moore was released unharmed on Wednesday after an "unspeakable" kidnap ordeal during which his four British bodyguards died or are feared dead.

The Guardian, quoting sources, reported that the Revolutionary Guard led the operation and took Moore and his bodyguards to Iran within a day of the kidnap.

Britain's Foreign Office said it has "no evidence" to support the reports of an Iranian link.

Relations been Tehran and London have been rocky in recent months.

A U.S. military spokesman earlier said that the leader of the group behind the 2007 kidnap of the British computer expert is among detainees held by the U.S. military being transferred to Iraqi custody.

The confirmation of Qais al-Khazaali's handover to Iraq comes a day after the release of Peter Moore, a 36-year-old IT consultant who was held by Khazaali's League of the Righteous for two and a half years, amid speculation of a deal for Moore's release.

Although it was not immediately clear if Khazaali was still in U.S. custody or not, the BBC reported that he had been handed over "very recently", citing a senior British government official.

"The United States has complied with an Iraqi government request in accordance with the U.S.-Iraqi Security Agreement and the rule of law to transfer AAH (Asaib al-Haq) members, to include Qais al-Khazaali, from U.S. custody to Iraqi custody pursuant to an Iraqi arrest warrant," the U.S. spokesman said.

"This has been occurring over a seven month period."

Asaib al-Haq is the Arabic for League of the Righteous.

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Iraq

Freed British hostage 'held in Iran'

2009-12-31

A British computer expert and his four bodyguards kidnapped in Iraq in 2007 were seized in an operation masterminded by Iran's Revolutionary Guard, and were held in Iran, media reported Thursday.

Peter Moore was released unharmed Wednesday after an "unspeakable" two-and-a-half year kidnap ordeal during which at least three of the bodyguards died.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his government hailed Moore's release, which it said was due to improved reconciliation in the violence-scarred country.

But there is speculation a deal has been done as it emerged the leader of the group which took Moore from a government building in Baghdad was being transferred from US to Iraqi custody.

The Guardian newspaper reported that the Revolutionary Guard led the operation and took the five to Iran within a day of their abduction.

The BBC also quoted the US's former commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, as saying he was "90 percent certain" that the group was held in Iran for part of their time in capitivity.

Petraeus was quoted telling a correspondent earlier this month: "I'm absolutely certain. I'm 90 percent certain" when asked if they were taken to Iran, adding: "I'm pretty sure I've seen hard intelligence on it."

Moore was targeted because he was installing a computer tracking system that would show how vast amounts of international aid money to Iraqi institutions was diverted to Iran's militia groups in Iraq, according to the Guardian.

A former unnamed Revolutionary Guard said the five were held in two camps including one known as Qasser Shiereen close to the Iraqi border. "It was an Iranian kidnap, led by the Revolutionary Guard, carried out by the Al-Quds brigade," he was quoted saying on the paper's website.

"My contact works for Al-Quds. He took part in the planning of the kidnap and he watched the kidnapping as it was taking place. He told me that they spent two days at the Qasser Shiereen camp. "They then took them deep inside Iran."

An unnamed Iraqi government minister reportedly backed up the claims. "This was an IRG (Iranian Revolutionary Guard) operation," he said.

Britain's Foreign Office told the paper: "We have no evidence that the British hostages, including Peter Moore, were held in Iran. "We are not in a position to say with any certainty where they were held during each and every single day of their two-and-a-half years in captivity."

The US confirmed Thursday that the leader of the group behind the kidnapping was being transferred to Iraqi custody, amid speculation, denied by Britain, that a deal was done to secure Moore's release.

"The United States has complied with an Iraqi government request in accordance with the US-Iraqi Security Agreement and the rule of law to transfer AAH (Asaib al-Haq) members, to include Qais al-Khazaali, from US custody to Iraqi custody pursuant to an Iraqi arrest warrant," the US spokesman said.

Although it was not immediately clear if Khazaali was still in US custody, the BBC reported that he had been handed over "very recently", citing a senior British government official.

Moore had thought he was about to be shot shortly before being set free, his family told British media. "He did think he was going to get a bullet in the head. He was very frightened. He thought he was going to be killed. Then he realised he was to be released," his stepmother Pauline Sweeney said.

Meanwhile, Moore's father Graeme, who he has not seen for 15 years, told the Times that efforts to free the group, which were kept low-profile throughout their ordeal, had been botched. "If they had done it properly, all five would be walking out of there," he said.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Britons kidnapped in Iraq are held by Iran

2008-04-26

So, what're you gonna do, Gordo?
Five British hostages who were kidnapped in Iraq almost a year ago are being held inside Iran by Revolutionary Guards, according to two separate sources in the Middle East and London. The hostages were handed over to the Revolutionary Guards by their Iraqi kidnappers last November, the sources believe. One of the sources said they were being held in the western Iranian city of Hamadan.

If confirmed, the involvement of Revolutionary Guards would be seen as evidence that senior figures in the Iranian government had backed the decision to hold them in the country.

However, British officials said that while there had been rumours that the five were in Iran, they had seen no evidence to support the idea.

The hostages are said to be in good physical shape but spending much of their time in solitary confinement.

Unlike the mutts at Gitmo, these folks won't have Amnesty International, HRW, and US military defense lawyers working for their welfare ...

According to one of the sources, they are under the control of Mohammad Safaei, 41, a senior Revolutionary Guard colonel who was previously in charge of special operations in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

The hostages were kidnapped in Baghdad last May in an attempt to force the Americans to release Qais al-Khazaali, an Iraqi militia leader said to be close to the Revolutionary Guards. Khazaali was apparently being groomed by Iran to take control of a breakaway faction of the Mahdi Army, a Shiite militia, that would be compliant with Tehran. A former chief spokesman for the Mahdi Army, Khazaali was arrested by US troops after masterminding a raid inside a base in which five US soldiers were killed. The Americans have refused to release al-Khazaali in exchange for the British hostages.

One of the sources, who has close links to the Revolutionary Guard, said the captors were looking for a face-saving way of freeing them. They have suggested the hostages write to church leaders in the UK asking for assistance in gaining their release, the source said.

The five were abducted from the Iraqi finance ministry, where one of them, Peter Moore, a computer specialist, was teaching data-processing. The other four were his bodyguards.

The suggestion that the hostages are in Hamadan follows contradictory claims earlier this month that they were in Tehran. This is the first time it has been claimed they are in the hands of Revolutionary Guards. One of the sources has previously proved to be a reliable source of information about them.

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Terror Networks

Iranian is key to UK hostages

2007-11-11

An Iranian agent held by the Americans in Iraq is at the centre of attempts to get five British hostages freed, a senior Iraqi official claimed last week. The five men - four bodyguards and an economics expert working for the US company BearingPoint - were kidnapped from the Iraqi finance ministry in May.

The Iranians have demanded the release of Qais al-Khazaali, a former lieutenant of Moqtadr al-Sadr, the Mahdi Army militia leader and radical cleric, as part of any deal to free the British hostages, the official said. Khazaali is held by US forces after being accused of leading a raid inside a base at Karbala in January in which five US soldiers were killed. The official said the British hostages were kidnapped in a well planned operation as part of attempts to force the Americans to free Khazaali.

Until his arrest, he was one of al-Sadrs senior aides but it is his links to the Iranians that make him key to the hostages release, the official said. Trained in Iran, he is one of the leaders of a military movement that Tehran is setting up in Iraq along the lines of Lebanons Hezbollah, Iraqi sources say. The Revolutionary Guards Al-Quds force is training and funding Shiite cells for the purpose of mounting operations against US and UK forces in the event of an attack on Iran. But the Americans refuse to release him and since then all negotiations have come to an end, the official said.

Gordon Brown asked about the fate of the hostages and attempts to secure their release when he met Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, last month. Maliki sent an emissary to Tehran to ask for assistance in getting the hostages freed. He returned with evidence that they were still alive, the official claimed. UK officials said they were not aware of the evidence but confirmed that Khazaalis release was a key part of the kidnappers demands.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran said last week that it had evidence of an extensive Al-Quds intelligence and military network operating against British troops in southern Iraq. The Al-Quds force was training Shiite militia members in both Iraq and Iran for operations against the British in the event of a US attack on Iran. The network is run by the Al-Quds base at Ahvaz in western Iran and coordinated by the Iranian consulate in Basra. It was originally set up by a member of the Al-Quds force who had spent eight years in Lebanon training and working with Hezbollah.

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Iraq

Iranian games: won't let PM Maliki's plane fly across their airspace

2007-04-08

Iran refused to allow the Iraqi prime minister to fly across its airspace as he was traveling to Tokyo, members of the delegation traveling with Nouri al-Maliki told The Associated Press early Sunday. The delegation members said al-Maliki's plane was diverted on Saturday night to Dubai where al-Maliki stayed in the airport for more than three hours while his government aircraft was refueled and a new flight plan was filed. Al-Maliki was traveling to Japan to finalize a loan for Iraq to repair and upgrade the Iraq's energy industry. When it was announced in December, the loan was worth $707.53 million.

Two members of the delegation told AP about the incident by telephone from Dubai. A government official in Baghdad confirmed their account. All spoke on condition of anonymity. All three said the Iranians told al-Maliki's pilot that they were not informed in advance of the prime minister's need to cross Iran by air. None of the three had any information on whether that was true or an Iranian action designed to inconvenience and embarrass al-Maliki.

If the refusal to allow Iraq's leader to cross Iran in his government plane was anything more than the result of confusion or poor communication, the incident would be a major snub for al-Maliki. He is not known to have flown to Iran or crossed its airspace since he became prime minister in June. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani flew to Tehran in November for meetings with government officials.

Iraq has found itself in a very difficult diplomatic position since the U.S.-led invasion four years ago. It has found it necessary to court good relations with Tehran, its neighbor on the east, while not angering the Americans. The relationship became further complicated when the United States detained five Iranians in the northern city of Irbil in January and refused to release them or allow Iranian officials a chance to visit the men. Iraq's position grew even more complicated last month when Iran captured a British navy crew and held it for 13 days. Britain, which has more than 7,000 troops in southern Iraq as part of the U.S.-led coalition in the country, patrols the Iraqi coastline in the Gulf.

Al-Maliki, a Shiite who owes his position to support from radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, would be expected to find favor with the Iranian regime, a Shiite theocracy. Tehran is said to be aiding al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia with weapons and money in its fight to force an American troop withdrawal. Al-Maliki, however, bowed to U.S. pressure early this year and demanded that al-Sadr rein in his militia in advance of the U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown in Baghdad. That operation is now in its eighth week and has seen several key Mahdi Army members detained by the U.S. military.

Al-Maliki has been unable to persuade the Americans to free a top Mahdi Army official, Qais al-Khazaali, who is believed to be Iran's main link to the militia. Al-Khazaali was captured by U.S. forces last month.

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Iraq

Insurgents Who Killed Five GIs in Brazen Karbala Attack Captured

2007-03-23

BAGHDAD The U.S. military said Thursday it had captured the leaders of a Shiite insurgent network responsible for one of the boldest and most sophisticated attacks on American troops since the Iraq conflict began four years ago. The statement said the arrests took place over the past three days in the cities of Basra and Hillah south of Baghdad. The military said the network was led by Qais Khazaali and his brother Laith Khazaali. Several other members of the network also were captured.

The network was "directly connected" to the killing in January of five American soldiers in the holy city of Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad, the military said. In the Jan. 20 attack, gunmen speaking English, wearing U.S. military uniforms and carrying American weapons abducted four U.S. soldiers at Karbala's provincial headquarters and later shot them to death. A fifth soldier was killed during the attack.
Making the bad guyz liable to execution on the spot for violation of the laws of war.
In an AP report Wednesday, two senior commanders from the Mahdi Army Shiite militia identified Qais al-Khazaali as the leader of up to 3,000 fighters who defected from the Mahdi Army militia and were now financed directly by Iran and no longer loyal to firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
"Yeah. Nebber hoid of 'em!"
Al-Khaazli is a cleric in his early 30s. The tall and slender man was a close al-Sadr aide in 2003 and 2004. He was al-Sadr's ~~receptacle~~ ~~catamite~~ ~~lover~~ chief spokesman for most of 2004 and made nearly daily appearances on Arabic satellite news channels. He has not been seen in public since late that year. Outspoken and uncompromisingly anti-American, al-Khazaali was a savvy spokesman, who went out of his way to accommodate the scores of Western and Arab reporters that covered the fighting in the summer of 2004 in the holy city of Najaf south of Baghdad. When al-Sadr stood to deliver the Friday sermon in a mosque in Kufa, Najaf's twin city, in the months leading up to the Najaf battles, a stern faced al-Khazaali stood motionless to the right of his leader. Both wore white shrouds over their clerical robes, suggesting their readiness for martyrdom.

In the days after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, al-Khazaali led groups of young clerics loyal to al-Sadr who protected his native Sadr City, the teeming Shiite district in eastern Baghdad, against looters and worked to restore basic services.

In Washington Wednesday, a Pentagon official who declined to be identified because of the information's sensitivity, confirmed that some gunmen had gone to Iran for training and that al-Khazaali has a following. However, the official could not confirm the number of his followers or whether Iran was financing them. The two Mahdi Army commanders blamed several recent attacks on U.S. forces in eastern Baghdad on the splinter group they said was led by al-Khazaali. They also said they believed the breakaway force had organized the attempt last week to kill Rahim al-Darraji, Sadr City's mayor.

Al-Darraji, who is close to the Sadrist movement, was involved in talks with the U.S. military about extending the five-week-old Baghdad security sweep into Sadr City, the Mahdi Army stronghold in eastern Baghdad that was a no-go zone for American forces until about three weeks ago. Al-Darraji was seriously wounded and two of his bodyguards were killed

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Iraq-Jordan

Sadr loyalists to leave Najaf ~~Again~~

2004-06-04

ARMED loyalists of Shi'ite leader Moqtada Sadr were to start withdrawing from the holy central Iraqi city of Najaf and its surroundings today, their spokesman said after a meeting with Shi'ite officials. Qais al-Khazaali said Sadr had met with the Shi'ite House, a grouping of Shi'ite parties and religious authorities. "Starting tomorrow we shall start or continue withdrawing any armed presence and freeing all suspects" arrested by Sadr's militiamen, he said at a press conference with Shi'ite representative Haidar al-Sufi. The Shi'ite House would "choose some of its members to supervise" application of a truce with US forces in specific districts, Sufi said. "We ask the governor of Najaf to deploy the police forces made up of citizens of Najaf to bring security to the people," Sufi added. "We ask the occupation forces and the Iraqi police to refrain from making arrests and searches in Najaf province."

That would spoil the fun!

Hundreds of ~~hard boyz~~ militiamen and civilians have been killed across central and southern Iraq since firebrand cleric Sadr began his uprising against US-led coalition troops two months ago. A truce was announced in Najaf and Kerbala provinces on May 27 between the coalition forces and Sadr's Mehdi Army militia, but it has frequently been broken ~~by the hard boyz~~. Five civilians and an unknown number of Shi'ite Muslim militiamen were killed in Kufa on yesterday in clashes with US troops, said the US military and medics, as fresh fighting rocked neighbouring Najaf. The US military said yesterday's clashes broke out in Kufa as troops searched a school suspected of having been used by Mehdi Army members to launch mortar attacks.

Isn't using a school to launch an attack a violation of some sorta law? I can't remember.

Sadr has offered to pull all militiamen who are not from Najaf out of the shrine city provided US troops leave as well. He has also asked for legal proceedings against him to be suspended until there is an elected Iraqi government, but coalition officials continue to insist that he disband his private army and face justice.

I'm waiting for the full-face and profile mug shots sans turban.

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Iraq-Jordan

US Tanks Roll Over Sadr Demoâs (I Wish)

2004-04-03

EFL
US tanks deployed in the Iraqi capital to stop hundreds of angry protestors marching on the coalitionâs city-centre headquarters as Shiite Muslim radicals took to the streets across central and southern Iraq. The protest in the capital turned violent as some supporters of radical leader Moqtada Sadr threw themselves at the US tanks and a police officer said at least two of the demonstrators had been crushed.
We can only hope...an immobile Tank is a vulnerable Tank, they get in the way, they get chrushed. There should be no games or hesitation over this....
Huge protests were also held in the central pilgrimage city of Najaf and as far south as Amara, while unarmed militiamen from Sadrâs Mehdi Army paraded in Sadr City, a sprawling mainly Shiite neighbourhood of the capital regarded as a radical stronghold. Sadrâs followers have held almost daily demonstrations to protest the decision by the coalition last Sunday to close his weekly newspaper for 60 days on charges of inciting violence.
Which it was....inciting violence that is. This newspaper should of been shut down long ago...and should I say it again?
Likewise Sadr and his like should be 6ft down and pushing up pretty daisyâs...doing something useful for Iraq, like being fertilizer...lol
Early Saturday, Sadr supporters took to the streets of Najaf, reacting to unfounded rumours that Spanish coalition soldiers had detained Mustafa Yaacubi, the head of his office in the city. Spanish commanders "categorically" denied the charge in a statement that was distributed to the crowd that formed outside the headquarters of the Spanish-led Plus Ultra Brigade in Najaf until mid-evening. The protestors dismissed the denial, demanding the release of Yaacubi and calling for another sit-in to take place Sunday morning.
The poor Spanish...they canât win for losing. New bombs are going off in Madrid, and here the Islamists wonât even believe their denial
Rumours of Yaacubiâs arrest also spread to the southern city of Amara where thousands of protestors took to the streets to vent their anger, an AFP correspondent said. Sheikh Qais al-Khazaali, the head of Sadrâs office in Baghdad, warned that his movement would react if Yaacubi was not quickly released. "This is a new provocation by the coalition forces," Sheikh Khazaali told AFP. "If he is not quickly released, our movement, our leadership and our supporters will react with the means at our disposal." Another rumour that coalition forces were surrounding Sadrâs office in Najaf spread in the afternoon, prompting hundreds of his followers to head to the coalitionâs Baghdad headquarters in buses and cars, correspondents said.
A Taget rich enviorment is a nice thing, as I always say
Their advance was stopped by police units and at least half a dozen US tanks which cordoned off streets leading to the heavily fortified administrative compound. An AFP correspondent saw one young man lunging at a tank which stopped abruptly without harming him. The crowd cheered the young man and then protestors upturned carts to block the road. "There were two or three dead among the protestors who threw themselves under American tanks which could not avoid them," said Sergeant Abbas Mohamad.
Only two or three dead? Heck, our Lads must not be trying
In similar clashes Friday evening, three Salvadoran soldiers were shot and wounded as they tried to disarm what the San Salvador press described as pro-Sadr militiamen in Kufa, just outside Najaf. Major Carlos Herradon, spokesman for the Plus Ultra Brigade, said the shooting erupted when the troops tried to disarm the militiamen in the shrine city, a Sadr stronghold, and a group of them opened fire.
The safest way to disarm an Islamists is...first to have him dead

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