 Al-Sadr's call is being heeded
-
- Shias from southern and central Iraq have begun travelling
to Baghdad in answer to Muqtada al-Sadr's call for a "million man
march" in support of Lebanon's Hezbollah.
-
- Waving Iraqi flags and chanting "Death to America!
Death to Israel", the demonstrators mounted convoys of buses and headed
for the capital on Thursday, some of them wearing white shrouds symbolising
their readiness to accept martyrdom.
-
- The demonstration is to be held following Friday prayers
in the teeming Baghdad suburb of Sadr City, home to some two million people,
and comes at a tense time for the capital.
-
- Sahib al-Ameri, general director of the Foundation for
God's Martyrs, part of Sadr's movement said: "Thousands of Najaf people
have set off for Baghdad as a response to Moqtada al-Sadr's invitation
to take part."
-
- Anger over Israeli attacks on Lebanon - which target
Hezbollah but have caused widespread civilian casualties - has raised passions
in Iraq, where Shia militias have an uneasy relationship with the
US-backed government.
-
-
- US forces have visibly tightened security around Sadr
City, a working class Shia district where Sadr's supporters are openly
armed.
-
- "Fifteen-hundred of Sadr's followers from Basra
have arrived to take part in the demonstration that had been called in
Baghdad," said Sadr spokesman Akil al-Bahadli.
-
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- Blast Kills 9
-
- Meanwhile, a roadside blast has killed at least
nine people in al-Amin, an eastern district of Baghdad, a police source
says.
-
-
-
- Violence in Baghdad is claiming 100 lives a day
-
- The powerful blast, which also left 14 wounded,
hit Shorjah market in an area selling electrical appliances, sending a
dirty plume of yellow dust up over the city skyline.
-
- The attack near Rusafi Square in the shopping area of
Rashid Street apparently targeted vendors and commercial stalls, said police
Lt Ahmed Mohammed Ali.
-
- He said the bomb was hidden in a parked motorcycle.
-
- Another police source said casualties appeared to
be civilians, rather than members of the security forces.
-
- The attack occurred as Taro Aso, the Japanese foreign
minister, was visiting Baghdad.
-
- Violence in Iraq's capital and other restive areas is
claiming around 100 lives every day.
-
- Thursday's attack followed a bomb blast in Baghdad on
Wednesday evening next to a soccer pitch which killed 12 and wounded 13,
most of whom were players and spectators.
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- http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4B4FABD
C-025C-4063-9F3B-8572DE96194B.htm
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