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Al-Sadr's Rebel Army Finds Fresh Theater of War in Baghdad

(London Times) Stephen Farrell - The Baghdad stronghold of Muqtada al-Sadr is being wired for war, less than two weeks after his al-Mahdi Army was squeezed out of its previous redoubt in Iraq's holy city of Najaf. By night U.S. warplanes attack the vast Shia slum. By day its streets teem with teenagers planting booby traps on every street corner to ambush U.S. tanks. On countless occasions The Times's car drove over wires or narrowly missed tell-tale bumps of melted and reworked tarmac in roads. Civilian drivers blithely cross them, assuming that the explosive devices below are detonated by remote control or triggered only by the weight of armored vehicles. Artillery shells lying in the gutter with wires protruding are clearly visible.
2004-09-10 00:00:00
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