Yanks Closing in on Al-Sadr Fighters
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
NAJAF, Iraq – American infantrymen engaged in fierce battles with cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s fighters yesterday and American tanks moved closer to the revered Imam Ali Shrine as the American military stepped up pressure on the insurgents to leave the holy site and end their uprising.
Late yesterday, American warplanes bombed the area of the Old City, and fires lit up the night sky, witnesses said. Ahmed al-Shaibany, an aide to Mr. al-Sadr, said shrapnel from the attack hit the shrine’s golden dome, one of its minarets, and the compound’s outer wall.
The American military denied damaging the shrine and said an air crew saw terrorists in the compound fire a rocket that clipped one of the walls and exploded 10 yards outside of the shrine.
“We are not doing anything that could have caused damage to the shrine,” Marine Captain Carrie Batson said.
There was no independent confirmation of damage to the shrine, but violence earlier yesterday ripped a chunk out of the outer wall of the compound. Explosions throughout the day shook the Old City, which is a mix of streets and narrow, maze-like alleys at the heart of much of the fighting.
With the American advance yesterday, fewer al-Sadr militiamen were in the streets and some were seen leaving Najaf. Medical officials said at least two insurgents were killed and four were wounded.
Al-Hakim Hospital said two civilians were killed and two others injured, but more casualties were reported in the Old City and could not be reached by emergency workers, said hospital employee Hussein Hadi.
Mr. al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army fighters are behind the uprising, has not been seen in public for many days, and police drove around Najaf with loudspeakers declaring he had fled toward Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq. Mr. al-Sadr’s aides denied that.
In Baghdad’s heavily Shiite Sadr City neighborhood, which has been wracked by violence since the Najaf uprising began, an explosion killed four people and injured nine, said Dr. Qasim Saddam, director of Sadr Hospital. The cause of the blast was unclear, and the American military said it was unaware of the incident.
American warplanes reportedly struck the volatile city of Fallujah early today. Witnesses said it was unclear what the target was, but they reported flames and smoke in southern neighborhoods.
In other Iraq developments, an Army reservist charged with abusing Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison said yesterday that he will plead guilty to some offenses, acknowledging he broke the law and saying he accepts responsibility for his actions.
The military judge in the case, meanwhile, complained of delays in the government investigation and warned he might dismiss charges against at least one accused soldier unless the probes were wrapped up by the end of the year.
Judge Colonel James Pohl’s anger flared after being told a lone Army criminal investigator was reviewing thousands of pages of records contained in a secret computer server at Abu Ghraib.
The moves occurred during the first of two days of pretrial hearings in the cases of Staff Sergeant Ivan “Chip” Frederick, Specialist Charles Graner, Specialist Megan Ambuhl, and Sergeant Javal Davis, all members of the 372nd Military Police Company, a reserve unit based in Cresaptown, Md. Judge Pohl allowed the hearings to be moved from Baghdad on a one-time basis.
Sergeant Frederick, in a statement given yesterday, said he would plead guilty to some charges, but did not specify which ones. Sergeant Frederick is charged with maltreating detainees, conspiracy to maltreat detainees, dereliction of duty, and wrongfully committing an indecent act. His pretrial hearing is scheduled for today in Mannheim, Germany.
During Specialist Graner’s hearing yesterday, Judge Pohl became incensed when told by prosecutors that the Army criminal investigators had only assigned one person to go through “hundreds of thousands” of documents on the Abu Ghraib classified computer server – presumably looking for emails and other documents that could be used as possible evidence for the case.
Judge Pohl said he wanted the report on the server inquiry available by December 1, warning he would “seriously revisit” a defense motion to dismiss the case against Specialist Graner at the next hearing in October in Baghdad if there was no sign the reviews were nearly finished.