Reply #13: Mystery Shrouds Hostage Crisis in Iraqi Town

[leftchick]

http://www.islamonline.org/English/News/2005-04/17/article02.shtml

BAGHDAD, April 17, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – US-backed Iraqi troops launched on Sunday, April 17, an operation to rescue Shiites reportedly held hostage by militants in Al-Madaen town, with some locals charging the whole thing was a fabricated prelude for a Fallujah-like onslaught.

~snip~

A spokesman for Shiite leader Moqtada Al-Sadr, Abdul Hadi Al-Darraji, also denied Saturday that Sunnis were holding Shiites in the town.

He told Al-Jazeera that the incident was merely a score-settling among some families in the community.

Al-Darraji accused some parties of playing the sectarian tune to pit Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis against each other.

The Association of Muslim Scholars, Iraq’s highest Sunni religious authority, further denied in a statement carried by the Doha-based broadcaster that Sunnis were taking Shiites hostage.