Najaf prayers cancelled after scuffles; US soldiers targeted by bombs

[Barrett808]

NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) - Main weekly Muslim prayers in the holy city of Najaf were scrapped for the first time since the fall of Saddam Hussein after scuffles between rival Shiite factions, as bombs wounded four US soldiers elsewhere in Iraq.

Overnight clashes between militiamen and soldiers in Baghdad claimed the lives of two Iraqi children and left 23 people wounded as the death toll kept rising in the countdown to a return of Iraqi sovereignty on June 30.

Supporters of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr in Najaf, 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of the capital, chucked stones and shoes at a rival Shiite group, preventing prayers from taking place at a revered mosque, an AFP correspondent said.

They launched the attack as some 200 members of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a mainstream Shiite religious party, began to enter the world-famous Imam Ali mausoleum after holding a street demonstration calling for unity among Muslims.

They injured a top SCIRI official in the head as he helped to prepare a platform for his brother, Sheikh Saddredin al-Kubbanji, who conducts prayers at the shrine every week and is a vocal opponent of Sadr's followers.

(more)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040611/wl_afp/iraq_us&cid=1512&ncid=1480

[hadrons]

1. and of course this all stops on July 1st ....

:eyes:

besides, didn't the Iraqi resistence get Rove's memo; no more of this stuff until after the election

[Zynx]

2. Not sure if you can call this "Resistance"

The Najaf fighting anyway. Seems more like "My tribe/religous leader is superior to your tribe/religious leader. Die!!!!"

Of course, I'm pretty sure that was also supposed to have stopped and the Iraqis were to be a bunch of secular New Hampshire-style republicans (idea, not the party) by this point.

Better send out the memo again.

[gottaB]

3. Juan Cole has some informed commentary as per usual

Riot at Imam Ali Shrine; Clashes in Sadr City

And remember kids, "The Moqtada militia is militarily defeated" (Sadr Militia defeated.)