Sectarian strife embroils US

Americans deny firing on a mosque while raiding a Shia stronghold

US TROOPS were accused of killing up to 22 Iraqis yesterday after becoming embroiled in a fierce battle with a powerful Shia militia at a Baghdad mosque, The reported clash, the circumstances of which were disputed by US Forces, raised fears in Washington that America was being drawn into the growing sectarian violence.

Iraqi police said that the clashes erupted after the Mahdi Army militia loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, the firebrand Shia cleric, tried to stop US troops from entering a mosque in a Shia stronghold in eastern Baghdad. It was unclear how the clash started, but a senior aide to Hojatoleslam al-Sadr fanned the flames of anti-American sentiment by accusing the US troops of killing more than 20 unarmed worshippers during evening prayers.

“The American forces went into Mustafa mosque at prayers and killed more than 20 worshippers . . . They tied them up and shot them,” Hazim al-Araji, Hojatoleslam al-Sadr’s aide, said. A US spokesman said that the incident was being investigated. US forces confirmed that a raid had taken place involving Iraqi and American troops. “No mosques were entered or damaged during this operation,” the US military insisted, adding that 16 “insurgents” had been killed and 15 others arrested.

Police sources said that 22 Mahdi Army fighters were killed in the fighting. However, Iraqi television broadcast video footage showing a tangle of dead male bodies with gunshot wounds on the floor of what was said to be the living quarters of the mosque’s imam. If confirmed, the clash at the mosque would be the heaviest battle between US troops and the Mahdi Army for more than a year, at a time when the US has been eager to show that it is handing control to the regular Iraqi Army.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-2105569,00.html

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