Iranian ambassador denounces US operation in Baghdad

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

BAGHDAD - Iran's ambassador to Iraq on Saturday denounced U.S. military operations in Baghdad's Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City, saying they had led to the deaths of innocent people and threatened to aggravate an already tense situation.

snip~


Qomi expressed support for the Iraqi-led Basra offensive, which was launched on March 25, but warned that "the insistence of the Americans to lay siege" on Sadr City has led to the killing of several innocent people and "is a mistake."

U.S. and Iraqi troops clamped down on Sadr City after fighting spread and attacks against the Green Zone intensified in the wake of the offensive. Four Americans were killed in near daily shelling.

"We criticize the measures taken by the U.S. forces. Shelling cities and surrounding people will aggravate the situation and make things worse," Qomi said during a news conference at the Iranian Embassy.

"The U.S. insistence on continuing this military action is a mistake and it will lead to negative results that the Iraqi government will have to shoulder the responsibility for," he added.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080419/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

[Barrett808]

1. Iran slams US for bombings in Baghdad militia bastion (air strikes in Sadr City)

Source: AFP

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iran lashed out at the US military on Saturday for carrying out air strikes in Baghdad's Sadr City, the bastion of Shiite militias Washington says are backed by Tehran-based groups.

Hasan Kazemi Qomi, Tehran's ambassador, said his government backed Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's policy of hunting down "outlaws" but was against the American military's way of executing the policy.

"No government should allow outlaws. We are encouraging the government to fight the outlaws. But we are against the way the Americans are implementing the policy by bombing and closing down Sadr City," Qomi told reporters.

"In this way people are suffering. The wrong policy of Americans by bombing innocent people will yield bad results."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080419/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestiranussadrcity

[maddezmom]

2. Sadr's spokesman in the holy city of Najaf, Salah al-Ubaidi, said the humanitarian situation in Haya

~snip~

Sadr's spokesman in the holy city of Najaf, Salah al-Ubaidi, said the humanitarian situation in Hayaniya was "tragic".

"They have surrounded the district and are preventing the wounded from going to hospitals. Then they started a ground attack," he told Reuters. "It is a very crowded area and they attacked it with rockets as if it were a military base."

Harith al-Idhari, head of the Sadr office in Basra, said Mehdi Army fighters were putting up no resistance, in observance of a ceasefire declared by the cleric.

In Baghdad, police described battles that began during sandstorms on Friday afternoon in Sadr City as among the heaviest in the capital since the crackdown began. U.S. forces said Iraqi troops held their ground as fighters assaulted in a blinding dust.

more:http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2008-04-19T164216Z_01_L19112898_RTRUKOC_0_UK-IRAQ.xml&pageNumber=2&imageid=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=NewsArt-C1-ArticlePage2