WRAP Sadr City; Samarra; Baghdad, Amara; Ramadi

(6 Aug 2004)

++NB: Footage shot through balcony pillars++
Sadr City, Baghdad
1. Street, AUDIO of gunfire
2. Man loading ammunition into weapon, fires weapon, AUDIO of weapon being fired
3. AUDIO of explosion, small flash, then various of gunfire - bullets hitting ground

Sadr City, Baghdad
Day Shots
4. Gunmen on street, running
5. Bradley fighting vehicles driving through street adjacent to the one gunmen were running down, AUDIO of gunfire
6. Man on motorcycle with RPG on shoulder

Sadr City, Baghdad
Night Shots
7. Gunman crouched behind building, firing gun
8. Man throwing object, loud explosion follows nearby
9. Light flashing through building window, shot fired at cameraman, shots blurs to white

Samarra, 100kms north of Baghdad
10. Exterior shot of damaged municipal building
11. Damaged interior of building
12. Iraqi police examining spent rocket on ground near municipal offices
13. Wreckage of family home, destroyed
14. Woman crying outside wrecked home

Baghdad
15. Gunmen on rooftop overlooking Friday prayers
16. Pan worshippers
17. Set-up shot of al-Sudani news conference
18. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Sheik Mahmoud al-Sudani, Muqtada al-Sadr spokesman:
"We would like to say that the U.S. and the governor of Najaf bear the responsibility for the recent escalation of violence in Najaf."
19. Al-Sudani leaving news conference

Ramadi
20. Burning truck in street
21. Smoke rising from residential area

Shu'la
22. US military vehicle on street
23. Wide of damaged shop building
24. Fire burning inside damaged shop building
25. Mid shot flames
26. Exterior burnt building
27. Damaged wall
28. Boy looking through window

Amarah
29. Various shots of insurgents chanting in front of police station

STORYLINE:

Coalition forces battled militiamen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in several Iraqi cities on Friday, saying they killed about 300 militants in Najaf over two days of fighting.

Battles in other Shiite areas killed dozens more, according to Iraqi authorities.

The death toll among the anti-coalition fighters was among the largest in a single continuing engagement since the end of the war to oust Saddam Hussein last year.

The outbreak of violence began on Thursday after several days of building tension between al-Sadr's militia and US and Iraqi forces in Najaf, 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of Baghdad.

Najaf's governor, Adnan al-Zurufi, put the toll even higher, saying 400 members of Sadr's militia were killed and more than 1,000 arrested.

Sheik Mahmoud al-Sudani, a spokesman for Muqtada al-Sadr, said the US and the governor of Najaf bore the responsibility for the recent escalation of violence in Najaf.

Some of the worst violence hit the Baghdad neighbourhood of Sadr City, where the Health Ministry said 19 people were killed and 111 wounded during fighting on Thursday and early Friday between US troops and al-Sadr militants.

In Samarra, 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of the capital, guerrillas attacked a convoy of 10 US Humvees at dawn, witnesses said. US helicopters fired rockets at insurgent positions and the US convoy pulled out.

Ahmed Jadou'a, an official at Samarra Hospital, said at least two people were killed and 16 injured during the fighting. Two houses were also destroyed.

Also on Friday, US forces patrolled the restive town of Ramadi, west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

In the centre of the town a truck carrying supplies for Coalition forces was attacked by insurgents and left to burn.







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