European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 26, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 6 s tars and stripes thursday april 26 2007 Assad by Bassem Mroue the associated press Baghdad Radical shiite cleric Muntada a Sadr strongly condemned construction of a Wall around a sunni neighbor Hood in Baghdad calling for demonstrations against the plan As a sign of the evil will of american occupiers the remarks in a statement read by an aide were the first by the ant american cleric since the us military announced last week that it was building a three Lelong 12fbothigh Concrete Wall in Adham Yah a sunni stronghold that has been targeted by mortar and rocket attacks by shiite militiamen Many sunnis also protested the plan say ing they Felt like they were being herded into a prison protesters in Adham Yah car ried banners monday with slogans such As no to the sectarian Wall and children want to see Bagh dad without Walls in the statement a Sadr said the pro if Wall in Baghdad us deaths in Iraq the associated press As of tuesday at least 3333 Mem Bers of the us military have died since the beginning of the Iraq War in March 2003 according to an associated press count the figure includes seven military civilians at least 2706 died As a result of hostile action according to the Mili Tarys numbers the a count is eight higher than the defense departments tally last updated tuesday at 10 a in the British military has reported 144 deaths Italy 33 Ukraine 18 Poland 20 Bulgaria 13 Spain 11 Denmark six Al Salvador five Slovakia four Latvia three Estonia Netherlands and Thailand two each and Australia Hun Gary Kazakhstan and Romania one death each the latest deaths reported by the Mili tary b a Marine was killed monday Dur ing combat in Anbar province the latest identifications reported by the military Harmy Cpl Ray m Bevel 22 an Drews Texas died saturday in Yusaf Yah of wounds suffered from an explosive assigned to the 4th battalion 31st infantry regiment 2nd brigade combat team 10th Mountain division fort drum by army pfc Jeffrey a Avery 19 col Orado Springs Colo died monday in mud Aliyah from wounds suffered from an explosive assigned to the 571st military police company 504th Mili tary police battalion 42nd military police brigade fort Lewis Wash this Wall shows the evil will of the occupier Atid its sectarian and terrorist projects against our peopled Muntada a Sadr shiite cleric tests showed mat iraqis reject the sectarian racist and unjust Wall that seeks to Divide sunnis and shiites i am confident that such honorable voices will bring Down the Wall he said a Sadr whose Mahdi army militia was blamed for much of the sectarian killing of sunnis has been trying to make overtures to the sunni minority and draw a differ ence Between Ordinary sunnis and extremists who target shiites this Wall shows the evil will of the occupier and its sectarian and terrorist projects against our people a Sadr said in the statement we the people of Iraq will de fend Adham Yah and other neighbor hoods that you americans want to Segre Gate from us we will stand hand in hand with you sunnis to demonstrate and protect our holy land the us and iraqi military said they plan to construct barriers in other neighbourhoods too to protect people from sectarian death squads a leading sunni Muslim group accused the shiite led government of turning a Blind Eye to sectarian death squads allegedly run by the Mahdi army the return of the militias and death squads to target sunni areas the attempts to Chain these areas with Walls to make them soft targets for militias and the arrest campaigns against sunnis especially mosque imams Are All part of a plan to empty Baghdad of sunnis the conference for the people of Iraq said in a statement the group which is led by prominent sunni politician Adnan Aldulaimii called on the government to Stop what it called sectarian projects that target sunnis warning our patience is running out on sunday prime minister Nouri Alma Lim said he would not allow a separation Wall but then he said the subject would be discussed he said he would not Rule out All barriers such As barbed wire following Al Maliks comments the new american ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker defended the Barrier plan saying it was an Effort to protect the sunni Community from surrounding shiite areas not to segregate it Crocker said Security Mea sures were implemented in coordination with the iraqi government obviously we will respect the wishes of the government and the prime he said although he did hot say construction would halt Iraq chief military spokesman indicated that some Type of Barrier would go up saying Almalik twas responding to exaggerated reports about the Wall in Iraq clash Over casualty figures the associated press Baghdad a in report released wednesday said violence in Baghdad re Mains at High Levels in its first human rights report since the Security plan was launched on feb 14 with increasing us and iraqi troops Levels in the capital the u n assistance mis Sion for Iraq said civilian casualties in the daily violence Between january and March remained High concentrated in and around Baghdad Una i also said that for the first time since it began issuing quarterly reports on the human rights situation in Iraq the new Jan 1 through March 31 report did not con Tain Overall death figures from Iraq ministry of health because it refused to re lease them the in Agency said the reason appeared to be that after the publication of its last human rights report on Jan 16 prime minister Nouri Alma lims office told Una i its mortality figures were exaggerated although they were in fact official Fig ures compiled and provided by a govern ment ministry Una i emphasizes again the utmost need for the iraqi government to operate in a transparent manner and does not accept the governments suggestion that Una i used the previous mortality figures in an inappropriate fashion the report said the current report cites Many examples of deadly attacks by insurgents and Mili Tias during the first three months of the year but it often relies on Media accounts and does not provide Overall numbers the iraqi government responded angrily calling the new in report inaccurate and unbalanced and warned that it put the uns credibility at stake also wednesday a suicide bomber Wear ing a hidden Belt of explosives attacked a police station in Iraq volatile province of Dyala killing at least four policeman just Days after a double suicide bombing in the same province left nine us soldiers dead the explosion which also injured at least 16 people occurred at the front Gate of the police station in a marketplace in Balad Ruz City police said building collapse led to bad Cuba casualties by Joseph Giordono stars and stripes Many of the casualties in mondays twin truck bomb attack on a us combat out Post in bad Cuba came when the second floor of the building collapsed after the blast military officials said Early wednes Day nine soldiers were killed and 20 other troops were wounded in the attack in As Sadah the attack began with Small arms fire quickly followed by the approach of two trucks Laden with explosives military officials said wednesday one of me trucks detonated around 30 meters from the pa7 tool base while the other hit the outer Wall and detonated the explosive blast from the second truck ruptured the Wall of the patrol base building collapsing the second floor and causing the majority of the Soldier casual ties the military said in a statement in the immediate area around the base one House and several smaller structures also collapsed a Hospital and mosque some 200 meters from the patrol base were also damaged officials said the patrol base had been in use by the us troops since March officials said a group called the islamic state of Iraq later claimed responsibility for the attack it is the same group that said it carried out the april 12 suicide bombing in the cafeteria of the iraqi parliament building in Bagh dad such internet claims Are common after Large scale attacks in Iraq though they Are often impossible to verify on wednesday us military officials said the As Sadah attack has Only strength ened our resolve and has emboldened the Peoples support of the Security forces said it col Andrew Poppas commander of the 5th Squadron 73rd cavalry regi ment 82nd airborne division the deaths were the single worst combat loss for the 82nd airborne since Vietnam division officials said my thoughts and prayers remain with the families of the Brave soldiers who were killed and wounded during this vicious at tack said col David w Sutherland com Mander of 3rd brigade combat team 1st cavalry division and commander of forces in Dyala province on tuesday Sutherland met with the governor Deputy governor provincial Council chairman and director of police to discuss the attack i reaffirmed to them that the coalition forces inside Dyala will remain on the of sense to deny the enemy any Safe havens Sutherland was quoted As saying email Joseph Giordono acc wow us travel com see classified for m6re info