Shi'ite, Sunni fighters clash north of Baghdad

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO047875.htm

Shi'ite, Sunni fighters clash north of Baghdad

BAQUBA, Iraq, June 30 (Reuters) - The governor of the Iraqi province where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed this month called in the army after clashes between Sunni and Shi'ite fighters north of Baghdad on Friday, police and his office said.

But Defence Ministry spokesman denied receiving a request to dispatch army units to Muqdadiya in Diyala province, an ethnically mixed area where sectarian violence has deepened in recent weeks.

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Police told Reuters suspected Shi'ite militias on Friday fired three rocket-propelled grenades at a Sunni mosque in Muqdadiya, 90 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, damaging the mosque's minaret but causing no casualties.

Sunni insurgents fired mortar rounds at a Shi'ite mosque in Muqdadiya to retaliate for the first attack, police said, also leaving no casualties. Both attacks took place when the mosques were crowded during Friday's prayers, police said.

3 Die in Clash With Iraq, Coalition Troops


Friday June 30, 2006 3:31 PM

AP Photo BAG101

By SAMEER N. YACOUB

Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition forces clashed with gunmen
northeast of Baghdad after armed Shiites attacked a convoy of Sunni villagers
in retaliation for a suicide attack, officials said Friday.

The Sunnis were attacked Thursday as they were moving out of the religiously
mixed village of Daliqiya after being threatened by Shiite residents accusing
them of being behind a bicycle bombing in nearby Baqouba that killed at least
25 people Monday, police said.

Iraqi police tried to intervene, but snipers killed the head of the force,
Col. Sami Abbas Hassan, and his two bodyguards. U.S. and Iraqi forces, backed
by air support, then tried to restore calm, engaging in a fierce gunbattle
that left three fighters dead and three wounded, the U.S. military said, adding
that four suspects were detained.

"Coalition forces are currently conducting a thorough search of the village in an
attempt to identify any other anti-Iraqi forces in the area," said military
spokesman Sgt. Doug Anderson.