Iraq

Invasion anniversary marked by violence

Article published on the 2008-04-09 Latest update 2008-04-09 15:25 TU

Baghdad, April 2003.
© AFP

Deadly fighting marked the fifth anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime on Wednesday. Three mortar rounds fell on the Baghdad neighbourhood of Sadr City, the base of Shia-muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, killing at least seven people and wounding 24 others. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said he had given al-Sadr an ultimatum to disband his Mahdi army militia and agreed to meet with his representatives on the issue.

"I hope they respond to the demand of all political factions to disband the Jaish al-Mahdi [Mahdi Army]," Talabani said during an interview. "We will take all efforts to convince them."

The Sadr group has said the hard-line cleric would disband the militia only if top Shia clerics order him to do so.

US special forces say that they destroyed an Al-Qaeda in Iraq training camp and weapons cache in the centre of the country.

Top US commander in Iraq General David Petraeus called for a halt to troop withdrawal for at least 45 days starting in August. He recommended to US lawmakers that after the 30,000 extra troops deployed to Iraq last year are withdrawn in July, there must be a "consolidation and evaluation" period.

He was joined by US ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker, speaking to two committees in Congress about progress in Iraq, his first report to congress in seven months.

"The champagne bottle has been pushed to the back of the refrigerator. And the progress, while real, is fragile and is reversible," Petraeus said.

Democrats interpreted Petraeus' observations as a "clear, open-ended pause" for an unpopular, unending war that has already claimed 4,000 American lives and countless Iraqi ones.