"Iraqi civilians flee fierce clashes in militia stronghold"
"by Selcan Hacaoglu, Associated Press | May 7, 2008
BAGHDAD - A rocket slammed into Baghdad's city hall and another hit a downtown park yesterday as more frightened civilians fled a Shi'ite militia stronghold where US-led forces are locked in fierce street battles....
US forces used air strikes and tank fire against suspected militia positions following a rocket attack late Monday in Sadr City, the military said. At least six people were killed.
An attack aircraft later fired two Hellfire missiles and killed three militants who were planting a roadside bomb in the Shi'ite neighborhood of New Baghdad yesterday, the military added. At least four civilians were killed in the clashes, hospital officials said....
More families, meanwhile, sought refuge in neighborhoods away from the fighting, which showed no sign of easing. A senior member of the municipal council in Sadr City estimated 8,000 families had fled the slum since the battles began six weeks ago. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of security reasons. The figure could not be independently verified.
Mulkiya Methour, a woman wearing a black head-to-toe chador, said many families had left Sadr City. "They fled bombardment. Their houses were destroyed and sewage floated into their homes," Methour told AP Television News outside Sadr City, the stronghold for the Mahdi Army militia of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
For Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite, the crackdown is a test of his determination to exert control. He has vowed to disarm all militants even as he faces accusations from Sadr's supporters of committing crimes against his own people....
So the test for Maliki is "Will you murder your own countrymen, women and children for the Americans?"
Smell that, readers?
Smells like Bush's "liberation!"
