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Iraq
60 arrested in Iraq after clashes
Associated Press
Published January 28, 2006
BAGHDAD - Iraqi forces clashed with insurgents Friday near the notorious airport road and other districts of western Baghdad, arresting nearly 60 people as the sounds of a rousing song, Where Are the Terrorists Now?, blared from police car loudspeakers.
The fiercest clashes occurred in the Jihad district along the main road to Baghdad International Airport - scene of numerous bombings and ambushes.
U.S. attack helicopters roamed the skies and the rattle of automatic weapons fire echoed through the streets as motorists abandoned their vehicles and merchants shuttered their shops.
Iraqi troops armed with rifles and machine guns blocked access to the areas where security operations were under way. However, residents reported seeing insurgent snipers on rooftops in the Jihad area and masked gunmen, some armed with rocket-propelled grenades, in the alleyways.
An Associated Press photographer watched as gunmen shot dead two men trying to flee the area. Residents said the two were killed because they were collaborating with the Americans.
Police said about 60 people had been arrested in the various confrontations. There was no word on casualties.
Raids by Shiite-led government security forces into Sunni neighborhoods have sharpened sectarian tensions as Iraq's Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish politicians are trying under intensive U.S. pressure to organize a new broad-based government after last month's elections. U.S. officials hope such a government can win the trust of Sunni Arabs and lure them away from the Sunni-dominated insurgency. During a sermon Friday at the Umm al-Qura mosque, Sunni cleric Ahmed Abdul Ghafour al-Samaraie condemned raids into Sunni communities by "death squads wearing police uniforms."
"Should an Iraqi man surrender? If he surrenders, he will be detained and tortured. If he resists, he will be considered a terrorist," al-Samaraie said.
Two Germans taken hostage in northern Iraq on Tuesday appealed to their government to help win their release in a videotape aired by Al-Jazeera. German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned "this cruel kidnapping" and called for their release "without delay."
[Last modified January 28, 2006, 01:39:07]
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