Mosque Raid Ignites Baghdad Battle

Residents backed militants in Sunni stronghold
By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 11, 2007 5:48 AM CDT
Mosque Raid Ignites Baghdad Battle
An Iraqi soldier shows Sgt. Anthony Haas of Seguin, TX., of the 6-9 squadron, 3rd brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, from where they take fire from insurgents at their outpost in central Muqdadiyah, Iraq, 90 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, Friday, March 9, 2007. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic)    (Associated Press)

Iraqi soldiers who raided a Baghdad mosque during worship set off an all-day battle yesterday the New York Times calls the most sustained fighting since the start of the new security plan. US troops and Iraqi soldiers fought Sunni militants joined by residents in the largely Sunni Ineighborhood of Fadhil.

Residents said two men, including the muezzin, who calls Muslims to prayer, were killed. “The locals took their guns and went out to fight the Iraqi Army and the police in reaction,”  Qais Ahmed, who lives near the mosque, told the Times. Officials say 16 US soldiers were wounded and four Iraqi troops and three insurgents killed. Residents claimed up to 36 civilians were killed. (More Iraq stories.)

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