Shiites Protest U.S. in Iraq

BAGHDAD —  A day after a devastating suicide car bombing at a police station and the ambush deaths of two American soldiers, thousands of enraged Shiite Muslim residents of the Sadr City neighborhood protested against the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq and warned American troops to stay out of their community.

The crowd, many dressed in white robes and carrying the coffins of two men they said were killed in a shootout Thursday night with U.S. soldiers, chanted “No! No! No to America!” as clerics condemned U.S. officials as “terrorists” and “wolves.”

In an incendiary Friday afternoon prayer before thousands of worshipers, Sheik Abdul Hadi Darraji accused the U.S. of provoking chaos and panic in the Middle East and compared life under the occupation to the oppression of the Saddam Hussein regime.

“America claims to be the pioneer of freedom and democracy, but it resembles a terror organization,” he said. “It thinks of itself as powerful, but its power is material. Its power will vanish. God is the powerful one. The Arab world should condemn the wicked American interference.”

Late Thursday night, two U.S. soldiers were ambushed and killed in a rocket-propelled-grenade attack in Sadr City, said U.S. Army spokesman Lt. Col. George Krivo.

The attack occurred hours after the car bombing at the Sadr City police station that left eight police officers and civilians dead.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack, which sparked a day of violent protests by hundreds of residents who blamed the U.S. for failing to provide security.

Later that night, Krivo said, soldiers with the 1st Armored Division were on a routine patrol when they were approached by civilians pretending to need help. The soldiers were lured away from their vehicle and then attacked with grenades and homemade explosives.

Two other soldiers were wounded.

Clerics denied involvement in the ambush and said American forces were the victims of a gunfight that began when they tried to enter a local Shiite center to seize weapons of the Al Medhi, a Shiite militia.

Al Medhi was formed recently by the radical young cleric Muqtader Sadr. Shiites revere Sadr’s father, who was assassinated.

Darraji said that Thursday night the Americans assaulted one of the Islamic institutions where Muslims come for their religious affairs under the pretext of searching for weapons.

When members of the militia attempted to stop the soldiers, a gunfight ensued, killing two Iraqis and wounding three others, he said. For several months, Iraq’s Shiite community -- once an ally of U.S. forces -- has teetered on the edge of violence.

This week, giant crowds protested the U.S. detention of a Shiite cleric accused of inciting attacks against Americans. In August, thousands threatened to riot after U.S. soldiers fired into an angry crowd, killing several people. U.S. officials said they were fired on first. The confrontation started after a U.S. helicopter knocked a religious banner off a communications tower.

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In stories after April 9, 2004, Shiite cleric Muqtader Sadr is correctly referred to as Muqtada Sadr.

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