Officials: 925 killed in Sadr City in April
Pastor Dale Morgan
Officials: 925 killed in Sadr City in April*
* Story Highlights
* NEW: 3 U.S. soldiers killed in 2 roadside bombs; total U.S. death
toll at 4,062
* Government attacks on militants will stop when insurgency stops,
official says
* Official: Civilians killed because militants "use the population
to cover themselves"
* Iraqi security forces, Shiite militants have been fighting in Sadr
City for weeks
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The fighting that erupted in Baghdad's Sadr City
last month has killed 925 people and wounded 2,605, a top government
official said Wednesday.
Iraqis mourn outside the Sadr City hospital Wednesday after several
people were killed in clashes.
Most of the casualties consist of civilians and "criminal elements
attacked by us," said Tahseen al-Sheikhly, a spokesman for the Baghdad
security crackdown called Operation Enforcing the Law.
Civilians are being caught in the crossfire because militants "use the
population to cover themselves," al-Sheikhly said.
The number of Iraqi civilians killed and wounded nationwide continued to
increase during April. According to Iraq's Interior Ministry, 969
civilians died and 1,750 were wounded during April. In March, the total
was 923 civilians killed and 1,358 wounded -- a sharp increase over
February, when 633 died and 701 were wounded.
Despite Shiite militants' calls for the Iraqi government to honor a
cease-fire, al-Sheikhly said, the crackdown on insurgents will end when
the insurgency ends.
"I don't think there is a timetable for all this. I can't tell that this
will end tomorrow or the day after," he said. The attacks "will end when
those aspects of violence end."
He echoed sentiments expressed earlier in the day by Prime Minister Nuri
al-Maliki, who said the government will not accept the existence of a
nongovernment armed force.
Monthly death tolls
The monthly U.S. military death tolls since April 2007:
April -- 104
May -- 126
June -- 101
July -- 78
August -- 84
September -- 65
October -- 38
November -- 37
December -- 23
January -- 40
February -- 29
March -- 38
April -- 50
-- Source: U.S. military
Word of the casualties came as the U.S. military said its highest death
toll in seven months reflected an effort by Iraqi militants to reassert
themselves after weeks of government crackdowns. Video Watch how
civilians are dying in the urban fighting (graphic content) »
Three U.S. soldiers in Iraq were killed Wednesday in two roadside
bombings, the U.S. military said. The first incident occurred about 1
a.m. during a walking patrol in northern Baghdad, the military said.
The other two died about 4:50 p.m. when an improvised explosive device
detonated in southern Baghdad, the military said. Names of the soldiers
were withheld pending notification of their relatives.
Another U.S. soldier died Wednesday in a bombing in the northern Iraqi
province of Ninevah, according to the military.
The deaths bring the April death toll for the U.S. military to 50, the
highest monthly tally since September. Most of the deaths occurred in
and around Baghdad, and most were combat-related.
Since the war in Iraq began, in March 2003, 4,062 U.S. service members
have died.
Over the past several weeks, militants have increased mortar and rocket
attacks against civilian, government and military targets, said Gen.
Kevin J. Bergner, spokesman for Multi-National Force-Iraq.
"These indirect fire attacks have killed some 40 people in Baghdad, with
some 370 others injured," he said.
Troops "are responding appropriately to these lethal attacks. As we do
so, we use precision strikes and take precaution to limit the damage,"
Bergner said. "We have said all along this will be a tough fight."
A member of the American-backed militia Sons of Iraq was killed
Wednesday, and four others -- three of them also Sons of Iraq members --
were wounded, when an improvised explosive device detonated near the
town of Hawija, Iraq, the U.S. military said.
The Sons of Iraq members were returning from a meeting when the
explosion occurred, the military said. The wounded were taken to a
hospital in Hawija, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) southwest of Kirkuk.
U.S. and Iraqi troops have clashed with Shiite militants in Sadr City, a
sprawling, crowded Shiite slum. Many of the militants are loyal to
cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mehdi Army militia.
Much of the fighting has been between the Mehdi Army and U.S.-backed
Iraqi security forces, which are dominated by a rival Shiite group, the
Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq.
The fighting intensified March 25, when the Iraqi government announced a
crackdown on "criminal elements" in Basra, a Shiite stronghold in
southern Iraq.
The fighting soon spread through southern Iraq's Shiite heartland and
into Shiite neighborhoods in the capital. There also has been violence
in areas dominated by Sunnis, such as Nineveh and Anbar provinces.
Skirmishes in Sadr City were aggravated this month when al-Sadr aide
Sayyed Riyadh al-Nuri was shot outside his home in the Shiite holy city
of Najaf.
Al-Sadr suspended the activities of his militia in August. U.S. military
commanders cited the suspension as a major reason for a decline in
violence in Iraq. Another factor, commanders said, was last year's troop
escalation, dubbed the "surge."
Al-Sadr issued a cease-fire for his followers March 30. Fighting in Sadr
City waned but remained intense, the U.S. military said.
The cleric has intermittently appealed for calm and threatened to
rescind his cease-fire order in recent weeks.
Al-Maliki has threatened to boot al-Sadr's supporters from parliament if
the Mehdi Army does not stand down.
An adviser to al-Maliki said this week that the government would halt
its assault on militias if the groups hand in their weapons, turn in
wanted militia members and refrain from interfering in the affairs of
the Iraqi government and security forces.
Al-Sadr has rejected the offer, saying al-Maliki hasn't kept his end of
the present cease-fire -- under which, the cleric's supporters said, the
Iraqi government would free nonconvicted prisoners belonging to the
Sadrist movement and discontinue attacks on al-Sadr's followers.
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Last week, al-Sadr threatened to wage "open war" on U.S. troops if
attacks do not cease. He issued a separate statement Friday to emphasize
that his militia would target "occupiers" and not Iraqis.
In that statement, al-Sadr also said he would not accept the long-term
agreement that the United States and Iraqi governments are crafting to
replace the U.N. mandate for multinational forces in Iraq. The mandate
expires in December.