Word: militiamen
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...peace to Iraqi police. But uncertainty lingered over how long the truce would last. The upstart cleric, whose Mahdi Army was allowed to withdraw intact, has reneged on agreements before, and this latest tactical retreat, after hundreds of his men had been killed, left him and his surviving militiamen free to fight another day. The interim Iraqi government led by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi had repeatedly vowed to crush al-Sadr's illegal army but quickly acceded to a plan that would spare the shrine from assault. Al-Sadr, said Minister of State Qassim Dawoud, is now "as free...
...walk through the battlefield. Snipers' bullets buzzed past our heads and lodged in the wall, sending a fine dust of pulverized plaster over us as I, my interpreter Hussam and three Mahdi fighters on the street tumbled into an open storefront to escape the barrage. The militiamen stood between us and the door to shield us from the unrelenting fire. They were young, polite and dedicated to their cause. As they saw it, they were protecting their holiest site from infidel Americans. But the Mahdi fighters were perfectly willing to safeguard...
...newspapers ran articles saying they were complying, and three national television networks pulled the plug on coverage. The sole Korean journalist in Arbil, a television producer, was forced to move onto the military base by Korean authorities. She can't leave the compound without an escort of Kurdish militiamen, and hasn't received permission to file a single television story since her arrival in June...
Slow Going In Darfur To ratchet up the pressure on the Sudanese government - which has promised to disarm Arab militiamen accused of killing 30,000 and forcing more than 1.4 million from their homes - United Nations special representative Jan Pronk and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw made separate visits to the country's western Darfur region. Pronk will give a report to the Security Council this week. If Khartoum has not made progress it could face international sanctions. Pronk said that Khartoum had taken some positive steps - setting aside safe areas, for instance - but that violence continues. After touring...
...Mahdi militia regarded the new forces as a rival gang on its turf. Two weeks ago, government security men arrested one of al-Sadr's closest aides in nearby Karbala, and the truce unraveled from there. Al-Sadr's militiamen then accused U.S. Marines, who have recently taken over responsibility for policing Najaf, of breaking the cease-fire's rules by moving into parts of the city that were supposed to be off limits to them. U.S. officials put the blame on the militia: in the early hours of Aug. 5, Mahdi fighters assaulted a police station with such ferocity...