| | От | В. Кашин |  |
| К | All |  |
| Дата | 23.10.2007 19:04:54 |  |
| Рубрики | Локальные конфликты; |  |
Боевики ас-Садра якобы взяли Басру под контроль
Добрый день!
Побили иракскую армию, взяли в плен 50 полицейских. В отдельых районах города бои продолжаются.
Iraq: Mahdi army taking control of Basra
Baghdad, 23 Oct. (AKI) - The Mahdi army, the armed group linked to the Shiite Imam, Moqtada al-Sadr, assumed control of the Iraqi city of Basra on Tuesday, according to a report on the Arab satellite TV network Al Jazeera.
The militia took over the city in clashes with the Iraqi police and reports say that the fighting was still going on.
According to Al Jazeera, during the clashes, the local police chief, Muhammad Qaji, was forced to flee the city and the militants took control of the city's main power centres and deployed their men along Basra's main streets.
Currently, at least four people are dead - three Iraqi soldiers and a militant - and at least 10 are injured.
The men of the Mahdi army have also reportedly captured 50 police officers.
The most violent clashes were in the city's central district of al-Andalus district.
Reports say that the police are trying to arrest the leader of the Sadrist militia in order to control the violence that appears to have sparked an urban war.
There are believed to be 60,000 members of the Mahdi army militia.
In April 2007, the US defence department described it as the greatest threat to Iraq's security, replacing al-Qaeda in Iraq as the country's "most dangerous accelerant of potentially self-sustaining sectarian violence".
Moqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the Sadrists who make up the Mahdi Army, in late August ordered the suspension of militia's activities for six months to reorganise and regain control of the increasingly divided militia.
С уважением, Василий Кашин