Cease-Fire Takes Hold In Baghdad
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
BAGHDAD — A shaky cease-fire appeared to take hold yesterday in Baghdad’s Sadr City, after a cleric who brokered the deal for Shiite fighters said they would honor it even after clashes left at least 11 dead and 19 wounded. The pact was intended to stop seven weeks of fighting between American-supported Iraqi troops and Shiite extremists who have fired more than 1,000 rockets into the Green Zone, home to the government and Western embassies. But the cease-fire did not start well, with clashes the past two days.
Iraqi medics reported 11 killed and 19 wounded. There were women and children among the wounded, said hospital officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press. The U.S. military said it could confirm the deaths of six militants.
In unrelated violence in northern Iraq, a roadside bombing killed five Iraqi soldiers yesterday in Mosul, police said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press. Iraqi troops and American soldiers launched an operation against Sunni extremists there.
