According to an Iraqi official at least 15 civilians were
killed Friday by bombs launched by US and British warplanes in the country’s
capital Baghdad and Basra.
The official said US
planes bombed a residential area in Sadr
City, killing about ten people and
wounding a dozen more. A similar incident allegedly took place in Basra,
five Iraqis being killed by British jetfighters, the same Sadrist official
said.
Also on Friday the influential religious and political leader Moqtada
al-Sadr held a speech in the mainly-Shiite town of Kufa,
in which he demanded the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country.
Moqtada al-Sadr is a
very controversial person even in his own country, the fourth son of the Grand
Ayatollah Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr being accused of planning numerous terrorist
acts carried out by his followers.
Elsewhere, the US
military announced the capture of another presumed terrorist cell leader involved
in gun smuggling and “bringing militants from Iraq
to Iran for
terrorist training .“
The operation took place in the suburb district of Baghdad, Sadr
City and led to the apprehension of
the suspected terrorist leader and the killing of five militants, an official
army report stated.
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