http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/04/10/iraq.main/index.html
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A Pakistani diplomat was reported missing Saturday
after failing to return home from evening prayers at a western Baghdad
mosque, Baghdad police said.
Police said the intial investigation suggested that Pakistan diplomat Malik
Mohammed Haleed was kidnapped.
The diplomat was last seen leaving the mosque in Amiriya in west Baghdad
about 8 p.m. (1600 GMT) local time, police said.
Earlier, several thousand protesters gathered Saturday in Baghdad to urge
the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq as well as to call for national
unity and denounce terrorism.
The marchers condemned President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and
ex-dictator Saddam Hussein, and some protesters gave the trio the pun name
of "triangle of death" -- the same as the nickname for a volatile region
south of the capital.
The protest and other demonstrations marked the second anniversary of the
fall of Saddam's regime and the famous toppling of the former ruler's statue
in Baghdad's Firdos Square.
The protesters were largely supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada
al-Sadr, whose Mehdi Army battled U.S. and Iraqi troops last year in
Baghdad's Sadr City and Najaf, 100 miles (161 kilometers) south of the
capital.
Some protesters chanted, "No, no to America," and carried effigies of Bush,
Blair and Saddam.
On Friday night, a member of al-Sadr's group was shot dead outside Baghdad
on his way to the protest in the city, a member of the National Assembly
said.
Sheikh Fadhil Abdul-Zahra al-Shawki was traveling with companions from
Karbala when they were ambushed.
Peaceful protests
The demonstration stayed peaceful, and security around the square was
largely Iraqi, with U.S. troops keeping a low profile.
In cites of the "Sunni Triangle" west of Baghdad, protesters also demanded
the withdrawal of U.S. troops. Sunni Arabs, who dominated in Saddam's
government, don't have the clout they once had.
Shiites, who make up 60 percent of the Iraq's 26 million people, and Kurds
hold sway in the new transitional National Assembly, elected in January.
U.S. officials have said repeatedly they will not set a timetable for the
withdrawal of American troops.
"Our troops will come home when Iraqis are capable of defending themselves,"
President Bush said at a news conference last month.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said there could be a temporary
increase in U.S. forces at the end of the year, when elections are slated to
be held again, but the numbers won't reach the high mark of 152,000.
On March 20, Rumsfeld said that U.S. troop levels would be drawn down to
135,000 to 140,000 "over the coming weeks," similar to numbers before the
January 30 election.
Several countries in the U.S.-led coalition have announced plans to withdraw
their forces, including Ukraine, which began bringing service members home
about a month ago.
Freelance videographer detained
A freelance video cameraman for CBS News has been arrested, U.S. military
officials said Friday.
The cameraman was wounded Tuesday during a firefight between U.S. troops and
insurgents in the northern city of Mosul.
U.S. military officials said that the man's camera held footage of roadside
bomb attacks against U.S. troops and that they believe he was tipped off to
those attacks.
A military statement said troops believe the man "poses an imperative threat
to coalition forces" and that he "will be processed as any other security
detainee."
CBS said the photographer was hired about three months ago, and it asked
news organizations not to identify him.
The network said the man was referred by someone "who has had a trusted
relationship with CBS News for two years."
"It is common practice in Iraq for Western news organizations to hire local
cameramen in places considered too dangerous for Westerners to work
effectively," the network said in a statement.
"The very nature of their work often puts them in the middle of very
volatile situations."
One official said at least four videos in the man's camera show roadside
bomb attacks on U.S. troops.
"The individual in question was carrying press credentials from CBS News,"
the military statement said. "Military officials detained this individual
and are conducting an investigation into his previous activities as well as
his alleged support of anti-Iraqi insurgency activities."
The U.S. military has said that the cameraman was shot by soldiers after it
appeared he had a weapon.
The military said the shooting occurred after a suicide bombing and that the
cameraman was standing next to an armed insurgent. U.S. troops have been
fighting insurgents in Mosul almost daily.
Iraqi soldiers killed
Five Iraqi soldiers were shot to death Friday when gunmen stopped their car
in the southern town of Latifiya, Iraqi police said.
Investigators suspected the driver, a civilian, of being involved in the
ambush and took him into custody, police said.
The soldiers were not in uniform when they were stopped about 25 miles (40
kilometers) south of Baghdad, police said.
On Saturday, two Iraqi civilians were killed in the city when a car bomb
apparently targeting a U.S. convoy exploded. The bomb missed the convoy but
hit civilians in a central neighborhood of Mosul. Thirteen people -- three
critically -- also were wounded.
.
|
