myrtar
2004.04.05, 0714
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/headline/world/2486451
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- An armed Shiite revolt against the American-led occupation erupted Sunday in Baghdad and in other cities across Iraq's normally quiescent south. Nine soldiers, including eight Americans, were killed, and three dozen were wounded, U.S. officials said.
The day's events constituted the most serious challenge yet to the U.S.-led occupation by an element of the country's majority Shiite population, which for most of a year has observed a broad tolerance of the United States and its allies.
The fighting pitted forces led by the United States, Britain and Spain against the Mahdi Army, a militia controlled by Muqtada al-Sadr, a junior cleric whose following is concentrated among the urban poor.
On the decrepit eastern side of Baghdad in Sadr City, a sprawling slum named for Sadr's father, protesters attempted to overrun police stations and other government buildings.
Militiamen fired rocket-propelled grenades and assault weapons on members of the 1st Armored Division, the U.S. military said.
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- An armed Shiite revolt against the American-led occupation erupted Sunday in Baghdad and in other cities across Iraq's normally quiescent south. Nine soldiers, including eight Americans, were killed, and three dozen were wounded, U.S. officials said.
The day's events constituted the most serious challenge yet to the U.S.-led occupation by an element of the country's majority Shiite population, which for most of a year has observed a broad tolerance of the United States and its allies.
The fighting pitted forces led by the United States, Britain and Spain against the Mahdi Army, a militia controlled by Muqtada al-Sadr, a junior cleric whose following is concentrated among the urban poor.
On the decrepit eastern side of Baghdad in Sadr City, a sprawling slum named for Sadr's father, protesters attempted to overrun police stations and other government buildings.
Militiamen fired rocket-propelled grenades and assault weapons on members of the 1st Armored Division, the U.S. military said.