Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

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IMTO- Iranian Proxies Taking Marine Medicine in Karbala, Najaf

U.S. forces battle cleric's militia in several Iraqi cities
BYLINE: FISNIK ABRASHI; Associated Press Writer
DATELINE: KARBALA, Iraq
American AC-130 gunships and tanks pounded militia positions early Friday near two shrines in the center of the holy city of Karbala, and the U.S. military said it killed 18 fighters loyal to a rebel cleric. Hospital officials said the dead included two Iranian pilgrims. U.S. forces withdrew from a mosque in the city center that had been used by insurgents as a base of operations, but said patrols in the city would continue. Fighting between American forces and cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's militia was also heavy in Najaf and neighboring Kufa, south of Baghdad. Explosions rocked the center of Najaf, near local government buildings, and Friday prayers were canceled because of the violence. A huge fire blazed in a vegetable market.