By — PBS News Hour PBS News Hour Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/middle_east-jan-june08-iraq_04-11 Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Assassination of Al-Sadr Aide Threatens Cease-fire Nation Apr 11, 2008 11:30 AM EDT Authorities immediately announced a curfew in Najaf and security forces were deployed to the streets. Riyadh al-Nouri, the director of al-Sadr’s office in the holy city, was gunned down as he drove home after attending Friday prayers in the adjacent city of Kufa, a police officer and a local Sadrist official told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Haider al-Turfi, another al-Sadr aide, told Agence France-Presse: “When [al-Nouri] arrived from the prayers, they opened fire on him, killing him instantly.” Al-Sadr spokesman, Salah al-Obeidi, said the United States was responsible for al-Nouri’s death because of its continued presence in Iraq. In April 2004, U.S. forces detained al-Nouri and another top al-Sadr lieutenant for the 2003 killing of moderate Shiite cleric Sheik Abdul-Majid al-Khoei in Najaf shortly after the U.S.-led invasion. An arrest warrant also was issued for al-Sadr but never served. That incident, along with U.S. authorities closing al-Sadr’s newspaper, triggered an uprising that engulfed Shiite areas of central and southern Iraq. Several thousand people were killed before the rebellion was finally suppressed. The two men were released in 2005. Meanwhile, sporadic clashes continued for a sixth day between Iraqi security forces and militia fighters in the eastern Baghdad Shiite-majority neighborhood of Sadr City and in oil-rich Basra — both Mahdi Army strongholds. U.S. soldiers operating an unmanned drone over Sadr City fired a Hellfire missile late Thursday at a group of men carrying rocket-propelled grenade launchers, killing six, the U.S. military said. Sadr City has been the focus of intense street battles that have killed nearly 100 people over the past week, Reuters reported. The area is under a vehicle blockade, due to end Saturday, that has led to food and medicine shortages. Sadrists have said they are under siege from Iraqi and U.S. forces and have threatened to break the general cease-fire al-Sadr ordered last August. On Monday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki threatened to exclude al-Sadr’s movement from politics unless he disbands the Mahdi Army. Iraqi forces have taken the lead in the Sadr City operation, but nearby U.S. troops offer pointers on urban warfare, The New York Times reported. Al-Maliki also has said that American ground forces should not push into the heart of Sadr City, one senior American officer told the Times. American commanders want to limit the U.S. profile in an area that has long been a bastion of support for al-Sadr. One Iraqi lieutenant told the Times that some of his soldiers have received threatening calls on their cell phones from the Mahdi Army warning them to leave. The Iraqi forces pushed their way up a main thoroughfare in Sadr City over the past week, but militias have sniped at them from alleyways — even signaling the presence of troops with trained pigeons. “Iraqi soldiers, suffering from a shortage of experienced noncommissioned officers, have often been firing wildly, expending vast quantities of ammunition to try to silence militias that are equipped with AK-47s, mortars and rockets,” Michael R. Gordon wrote in the Times. “But pulling back from their positions earlier, they now appear to be holding their ground — albeit with considerable American support.” We're not going anywhere. Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on! Donate now By — PBS News Hour PBS News Hour
Authorities immediately announced a curfew in Najaf and security forces were deployed to the streets. Riyadh al-Nouri, the director of al-Sadr’s office in the holy city, was gunned down as he drove home after attending Friday prayers in the adjacent city of Kufa, a police officer and a local Sadrist official told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Haider al-Turfi, another al-Sadr aide, told Agence France-Presse: “When [al-Nouri] arrived from the prayers, they opened fire on him, killing him instantly.” Al-Sadr spokesman, Salah al-Obeidi, said the United States was responsible for al-Nouri’s death because of its continued presence in Iraq. In April 2004, U.S. forces detained al-Nouri and another top al-Sadr lieutenant for the 2003 killing of moderate Shiite cleric Sheik Abdul-Majid al-Khoei in Najaf shortly after the U.S.-led invasion. An arrest warrant also was issued for al-Sadr but never served. That incident, along with U.S. authorities closing al-Sadr’s newspaper, triggered an uprising that engulfed Shiite areas of central and southern Iraq. Several thousand people were killed before the rebellion was finally suppressed. The two men were released in 2005. Meanwhile, sporadic clashes continued for a sixth day between Iraqi security forces and militia fighters in the eastern Baghdad Shiite-majority neighborhood of Sadr City and in oil-rich Basra — both Mahdi Army strongholds. U.S. soldiers operating an unmanned drone over Sadr City fired a Hellfire missile late Thursday at a group of men carrying rocket-propelled grenade launchers, killing six, the U.S. military said. Sadr City has been the focus of intense street battles that have killed nearly 100 people over the past week, Reuters reported. The area is under a vehicle blockade, due to end Saturday, that has led to food and medicine shortages. Sadrists have said they are under siege from Iraqi and U.S. forces and have threatened to break the general cease-fire al-Sadr ordered last August. On Monday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki threatened to exclude al-Sadr’s movement from politics unless he disbands the Mahdi Army. Iraqi forces have taken the lead in the Sadr City operation, but nearby U.S. troops offer pointers on urban warfare, The New York Times reported. Al-Maliki also has said that American ground forces should not push into the heart of Sadr City, one senior American officer told the Times. American commanders want to limit the U.S. profile in an area that has long been a bastion of support for al-Sadr. One Iraqi lieutenant told the Times that some of his soldiers have received threatening calls on their cell phones from the Mahdi Army warning them to leave. The Iraqi forces pushed their way up a main thoroughfare in Sadr City over the past week, but militias have sniped at them from alleyways — even signaling the presence of troops with trained pigeons. “Iraqi soldiers, suffering from a shortage of experienced noncommissioned officers, have often been firing wildly, expending vast quantities of ammunition to try to silence militias that are equipped with AK-47s, mortars and rockets,” Michael R. Gordon wrote in the Times. “But pulling back from their positions earlier, they now appear to be holding their ground — albeit with considerable American support.” We're not going anywhere. Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on! Donate now