 
CHANNELS SPACEWAR WIRE MILITARY SPACE UAV NEWS MILITARY COMMS CYBERWARS MISSILE NEWS RAYGUNS TERRORWARS SPACEDAILY TERRADAILY MARSDAILY SPACE TRAVEL SPACEMART SPACE DATABASE  SERVICES |  
A humanitarian group and El Salvador's main political opposition Sunday called for the return of troops from Iraq after a Salvadoran soldier was killed in clashes in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf. The Salvadoran was in a unit attached to Spanish-led troops that engaged in a gunbattle with radical Shiites that attacked a Spanish military base. According to Defense Minister General Jorge Martinez, 12 Salvadoran soldiers were also injured in the fighting. Spanish officials in Madrid said 14 were wounded. "The blood of our soldiers has begun to run, and that is enough reason for our government to order the immediate return of those troops," said Miguel Montenegro of the Committee of Human Rights. A spokesman for the Farabundo Marti Liberation Front, Sigfrido Reyes, said that this is "a highly volatile and dangerous situation" for Salvadoran troops in Iraq. "We demand an urgent repatriation of our troops before we have to lament more deaths," he said. "We rejected their being sent to join occupation forces throughout Iraq led by the United States, Britain and Spain." Both Montenegro and Reyes blamed President Francisco Flores for putting the soldier's in harm's way. Martinez said the death of the soldier "pains the Salvadoran people," but "also reinforces us in our decision to keep supporting humanitarian efforts to help such an unfortunate people." San Salvador Archbishop Fernando Saenz, after Sunday mass, said the deaths were "very painful." However "terrorism must be faced and there must be international cooperation," he said. There are currently some 380 soldiers from this Central American country in Iraq, part of the Spanish-led international force in the Shiite-dominated areas south of Baghdad. Martinez described the attack by armed radical Shiites as "totally unjustified." Sunday's attack comes after three Salvadoran soldiers were injured Friday in a police operation in the central Iraqi city of Kufa, officials said. All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse. Quick Links
|
|
| The contents herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2002 - SpaceDaily. AFP Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |