Five Dead in Fighting Around Shiite Town

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Five Dead in Fighting Around Shiite Town
7 minutes ago


KUFA, Iraq - U.S. forces clashed with Shiite Muslim militiamen, killing at least five Iraqis and injuring 14 others, hospital officials said Tuesday.




The clashes took place about sundown Monday on the southern end of Kufa and lasted for about an hour.


Kufa is located close to Najaf, where radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr took refuge last month after U.S. authorities announced they were seeking him in the assassination last year of a moderate cleric.


U.S. troops have been involved in sporadic clashes with al-Sadr's gunmen for weeks. But the Americans have avoided an all-out assault on Najaf to avoid inflaming Shiite passions.

[seruriermarshal]

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Three Killed in Bomb Attack in N.Iraq City Kirkuk

KIRKUK, Iraq (*******) - A bomb exploded in a crowded market in a Kurdish neighborhood of the northern Iraq (news - web sites) oil city Kirkuk on Tuesday, killing three people and wounding around 22, Iraqi police said.



Colonel Ahmed Slamrz said the attack occurred at around 9:30 a.m. (1:30 a.m. EDT) when the market was packed with shoppers. Kirkuk, a city claimed by three ethnic groups -- Kurds, Turkmen and Arabs -- has suffered persistent unrest in recent months.


Shirko Shakir, the commander of Kirkuk's police, said five of those hurt in the blast were seriously wounded, suggesting the death toll could rise.


Another police official said the bomb had been made of gas canisters and hidden near a road leading through the market. The blast brought down power cables, setting wooden stalls at the market ablaze, witnesses said.


The city's largely Kurdish police force has been the target of frequent attacks, as have the officials and offices of Kurdish political parties in the city.







Russian Worker Killed, Two Abducted in Iraq

MOSCOW (*******) - One Russian worker was killed and two others taken hostage in Iraq (news - web sites), Russia's foreign ministry said on Tuesday, prompting the Russian contractor for which they worked to consider withdrawing its staff.


The workers were from Interenergoservis, the engineering company from which eight workers were briefly kidnapped in Baghdad last month, the ministry said in a statement, adding the attack had taken place on Monday.


State television reported the workers had been traveling between Baghdad and Latifiya on Monday evening when their car was attacked by unknown assailants.


"As a result of the incident one citizen died and two were taken hostage by the attackers," the ministry said. "All possible measures are being taken to free our citizens as quickly as possible."


Itar-Tass quoted an Interenergoservis spokesman as saying the company was considering withdrawing all its workers from Iraq.


Last month Russia airlifted out of Iraq more than three hundred of its workers and those from other ex-Soviet countries.


Hundreds opted to remain in Baghdad, including many from Interenergoservis, a contractor involved in work on a power plant project 20 miles south of the Iraqi capital.