& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Saddam kills Izzat Ibrahim, Taha Yassin Ramadhan ?

Iraqi rebels seize Najaf, Karbala
NICOSIA. Mar 5: Opponents of Saddam Hussein said Tuesday they have seized two holy citics in central Iraq as his loyal Republican Guard and rebellious army units reportedly faced off with tanks tn the southern city of Basra, reports agencies.
A representative of Shi'ite Muslim opposition groups in Damascus also said he was trying to verify reports that Saddam had killed his two top aides in tl»c ruling Revolutionary Command Council. Taha-
Yassin Ramadhan and Izzat Ibrahim, both of whom arc Sunni Muslims like himself.
TEHERAN. Mar 5: Anti-government demonstrators Tuesday stormed a prison near Baghdad and released a large number of political prisoners, a spokesman for an Iraqi Shi'ite opposition group said here, reports AFP
The opponents, reporting separately from exile In Syria and Iran, said Karbala. 100
kilometers from Baghdad and Najaf. about 60 kilometers fur Ihcr south, fell into the hands of the opposition late Monday.
Further signs of turmoil In Iraq were reported by US military officials In Riyadh. Saudi Arabia. They said tanks bringing to remnants of the Republican Guard are deployed In some areas of Basra, operating checkpoints, and exchanging machine gun fire with the regular army.
BagHlad Radio accused the •Illes of a "conspiracy" to destabilize Iraq. Hie radio said late Monday that the allies were "striking at Iraq's growing power and finding various pretexts to disturb Iraq's sc-curity and national unity."
US military officials in Saudi Arabia, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that so far there has been no Indication of tanks firing on each other in Basra.
One official said the tank forces arrayed against each other amounted to the equivalent of two brigades, about 4,000 to 5.000 soldiers. A brigade normally has about 107 tanks and there are “more than 200" in Basra, a mixture of top-of-the-liitt Soviet-built T-72s and older T-55s.
"Clearly there is some disagreement." he said. "You get the distinct impression that its growing... there is a' groundswell toward greater civil disobedience. -
He said the attaatkm .was loo fluid to predict- whe ther Saddam would be aMe lb Jnaih-taln control.
The official said new intclil-gence indicated that the unrest. had spread to Sulci-maniyah. 250 kilometers north of Baghdad.
The report* of unrest in the north was the first indication the Kurds, an ethnic minority which had been struggling for independence from Baghdad, may have joined the effort to unseat Saddam.
The Iraqi opposition, in separate reports from Iran and Syria, said the two southern cl-L1e*. Najaf and Karbala, were taken by antf-Saddam rioters.
Baghdad Radio on Monday carried a statement purportedly from Ibrahim. Deputy Chairman of the Council. In which he was quoted as appealing to a group of civilian and military officials to rise to the, "major challenges" facing Iraq.
He did not specify what those challenges were, but it was an apparent reference to the unrest.
There was no way to verify the opposition claims.
Jabr said: 'Najaf fell into the hands of the protesters after bloody clashes. Twenty-two protesters were killed. Army unit* in Najaf have surrendered to our heroes".
Karbala Is also in the hands of our people.' he said.
"(Opposition) prisoner* in both Karbala and Najaf have been freed and two public buildings liave been burned
The governor of Karbala fled Just before the city fell." Jabr said without giving the name of the official.
Karbala and Najaf are both holy Shi'ite cities. The Shi tlcs make up 55 per cent of Iraq's 18 million population.
Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency, tn a report monitpred tn Nicosia, quoted an unidentified spokesman for the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq as reporting the fall of Najaf and Karbala.
Refugees reaching the Iraqi border town of Safwan. most of them Kuwaitis trying to get home, said demonstrators were also marching in the southern Iraqi cities of Nasiriyah. Shutra. Suq ash-Shuyukh. Amara. Samawah and KuL
In some places, they said. Iraqi troops were shooting women and children.
The special forces are destroying everything in front of them. If anybody shouts from a building they knock it down.' said Mahar llakawati. a Jordanian photographer who came to Kuwait from Basra.
IRNA had earlier quoted refugees streaming into Iran as saying Saddam s eldest son. Udai. 26. was killed In the Basra fighting, along with a
provincial governor and the mayor of tlx- city
Meanwhile. Iraq said Tuesday that all Allied prisoner* of war had been, freed, and the US military announced plan* to release 294 Iraqis - the first batch of more than 60.000 soldiers captured during last weeks lopsided ground war.
On Tuesday afternoon. Baghdad radio quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying: "Iraq has completed the handing over of all primmer* of the countries that had taken part in military operations against Iraq.'
The radio said 35 POW* were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross. The ICRC confirmed that number, saying the group comprised 15 Americans. nine Britons, nine Saudis, one Kuwaiti and one Italian.
The US command said earlier there were 38 Americana missing tn action and nine known prisoners of war in Iraqi hand* before Monday ■ releases
The decision was taken al a meeting chaired by Iraqi IVvskient Saddam Hussein lata Monday said the broadcast, monitored tn Nicosia