The weekly Muslim prayers in the holy city of Najaf were scrapped for the first time since the fall of Saddam Hussein after scuffles between rival Shiite factions.
Supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr in Najaf chucked stones and shoes at a rival Shiite group, preventing prayers from taking place at a revered mosque, AFP said. They launched the attack as some 200 members of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq entered the Imam Ali mausoleum after holding a street demonstration calling for unity among Muslims.
In another development, an American soldier has died from injuries suffered in an ambush in eastern Baghdad, the military said Friday. Four other troops were injured in this Wednesday evening attack.
Overnight clashes between Shiite fighters and occupation soldiers in Baghdad claimed the lives of two Iraqi children and left 23 people wounded.
Separately, three American troops were injured in a car bomb attack on a military convoy in southern Baghdad on Friday.
Meanwhile, the head of U.S. military operations said in an interview the Ameican Army in Iraq is changing its focus from fighting to training Iraqi troops and protecting the interim government.
Lt. Gen. Thomas F. Metz, who took command of the new Multinational Corps Iraq headquarters last month, said the military will also consult Iraq's interim leaders before engaging in future offensives.
"Combat becomes a lower priority than it has been for much of the insurgent fight to date," Metz said Thursday, according to The AP.
He added decisions on American operations will be made in coordination with Iraq's leaders. But American forces "certainly have the right" under a U.N. Security Council resolution approved Tuesday "to conduct operations as we would like to." (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
