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Iraq's Prime Minister Orders US Troops to Lift Cordon Around Sadr City
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?r=279&c=670118&l=1009&ctl=14A3DFD:A6F02AD83191E1603499E5B45B96B7369574F7DCC14957C0 Radical Shi'ite
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr calls for general strike to protest checkpoints





Nouri al-Maliki Iraq's prime minister has ordered U.S. and Iraqi
troops to lift a week-old cordon around Baghdad's Shi'ite Sadr City
district.

The extra checkpoints are part of an operation to search for a missing
American soldier, whom U.S. officials believe was kidnapped by Shi'ite
militants.

Shi'ite activists have denounced the blockade and likened it to a
siege. Radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for a general
strike Tuesday to protest the checkpoints, closing most shops, schools
and government offices in Sadr City.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered the blockade to be fully
dismantled Tuesday, but he said checkpoints could be re-imposed for
curfews or other operations.







172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team soldiers man checkpoint on edge of
Baghdad's Shiite enclave of Sadr City, Thursday Oct. 26,
2006Meanwhile, police in Tikrit say gunmen have kidnapped at least 30
people traveling on a main road north of Baghdad.

In Baghdad, a car bomb killed three civilians on Palestine Street in
the city center.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military says two more American soldiers were
killed in Iraq Monday, raising the death toll of troops this month to
103.

A military statement says one U.S. soldier was killed by small arms
fire during a battle in western Baghdad, while another soldier was
killed by a roadside bomb south of the capital.

October has been the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Iraq since
January 2005, when 106 soldiers were killed.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

 


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