Anger in Najaf after US soldier kills Al Sadr aide
Reuters
Najaf: Thousands of supporters of anti-American cleric Moqtada Al Sadr marched through the Iraqi city of Najaf in an angry funeral procession after a senior Al Sadr aide was killed by a US soldier yesterday.
Chanting "No to America" and carrying placards decrying US occupation, mourners carried the coffin of Saheb Al Amiri through the streets. Members of Al Sadr's group accused the Americans of provoking a confrontation and demanded a government inquiry.
Al Sadr officials and US military commanders gave conflicting versions of the activities of Al Amiri.
Al Sadr officials said US forces stormed Al Amiri's home at dawn and killed him in front of his wife and children. They said Al Amiri was a lawyer who headed a charity for orphans and the poor.
"What happened was a crime. It comes on top of other crimes committed by occupation forces in Iraq," Nassar Al Rubaei, head of the Al Sadr bloc in parliament, said in Baghdad.
In Najaf, Shaikh Abdul-Razzes Al Malawi, a member of Al Sadr's office, said: "US forces want to drag us into a confrontation, but we won't be dragged into it. However, we promise them there will be a reaction at the appropriate time."
US military spokesman Major General William Caldwell said Al Amiri was an "improvised explosive device facilitator" and that he was implicated in a bomb attack on a police chief in October. He said he was shot dead in his home near Najaf, during an Iraqi-led raid, by a US military adviser who saw Al Amiri point an assault rifle at an Iraqi soldier.
The US military advisor would not receive the same type of consideration if their places had been reversed...
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Thursday, December 28, 2006
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