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Upto 25 militiamen killed in coalition operation in Karbala
Karbala (Iraq), May 12: Between nine and 25 militiamen were killed in clashes with us forces overnight in the holy Iraqi city of Karbala, according to US military and local hospital sources today.
Karbala (Iraq), May 12: Between nine and 25 militiamen were killed in clashes with us forces overnight in the holy Iraqi city of Karbala, according to US military and
local hospital sources today.
A US military official in Baghdad said upto 25 militiamen of cleric Moqtada Sadr's Mehdi army died in the fighting, while seven us soldiers were wounded, four of them
slightly.
Earlier, the director of a hospital in Karbala, Hassan Nasrallah, said, "Nine militiamen were killed and seven people, including two iranian pilgrims, were injured during the clashes which were in the centre of the city."
US-led coalition forces launched a large-scale military operation near a mosque occupied by Shiite militiamen, witnesses said.
Heavy and light shooting ricocheted around the area all night and access to the city centre was sealed off this morning by coalition roadblocks.
"I could not leave the house because of the shooting," 30-year-old civil servant Hashem Salman, who lives within the part of the city sealed off by coalition forces, told by telephone.
Fellow witness Ali Hussein said that a building close to the revered shrines of Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas was hit by bullets.
"Ambulances and fire engines were unable to get to the scene of the clashes," said Ali Aradui, a hospital official in the city 110 km south of Baghdad.
Bureau Report
Earlier, the director of a hospital in Karbala, Hassan Nasrallah, said, "Nine militiamen were killed and seven people, including two iranian pilgrims, were injured during the clashes which were in the centre of the city."
US-led coalition forces launched a large-scale military operation near a mosque occupied by Shiite militiamen, witnesses said.
Heavy and light shooting ricocheted around the area all night and access to the city centre was sealed off this morning by coalition roadblocks.
"I could not leave the house because of the shooting," 30-year-old civil servant Hashem Salman, who lives within the part of the city sealed off by coalition forces, told by telephone.
Fellow witness Ali Hussein said that a building close to the revered shrines of Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas was hit by bullets.
"Ambulances and fire engines were unable to get to the scene of the clashes," said Ali Aradui, a hospital official in the city 110 km south of Baghdad.
Bureau Report