2 Killed In Seizure Of Sadrist Office

2 Killed in Seizure of Sadrist Office in Baghdad; Muqtada Aide Had Called for IGC Resignation

Two pieces of information from BBC world monitoring.

First, it reports on Sunday April 4 that:

Al-Jazeera TV, Doha, in Arabic 1450 gmt 4 Apr 04 said that US troops killed two and injured 7 when they stormed the Baghdad offices of Muqtada al-Sadr on Sunday.

then:

BBC World Monitoring translated a Saturday, April 3 story by Hamzah Hashim that appeared in the Baghdad newspaper, Furat:

‘ Hazim al-A’raji, representative of Al-Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr . . . promised the crowds [at Friday prayers in Baghdad] that tomorrow [Saturday] there would be a parade of the Al-Mahdi Army force along with a group of turbaned people . He said: We will first stage a sit-in and then close all streets. We will do that knowing it will cost us much. Al-A’raji called on IGC [Interim Governing Council] members to resign because they only represented themselves and because they had tried to sow the seeds of sedition and sectarianism. He said: We are against the reconciliation law because we do not believe in reconciliation with the infidel party. He said: Our newspaper Al-Hawzah said only what the Iraqis and Arabs say, but it seems democracy is not for us and we are not allowed to have it. The angry crowds burned the Israeli flag in front of the US army. ‘