Clashes betweeen Polish troops and insurgents

(23 Apr 2004) 1. Street in Karbala (audio of gun shots) 2. Various of civilians running away from sight of clashes and streets 3. Emam Abbas shrine (audio of exchange fire) 4. Polish troops driving away 5. Various of smoke 6. Car burning in a civilian house 7. Various of fire engine 8. Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) on fire 9. Blood stains next to burning APC 10. Villager holding US soldier helmet in a hand, on the other hand victory sign 11. Al-Mahdi Army militia member holding AK-47 12. Al-Mahdi Army militia members 13. Ambulance rushing to hospital 14. Militiaman holding helmet, UPSOUND (Arabic): "In God''s will al-Mahdi army will win." 15. Smouldering truck on street surrounded by crowd 16. People gathered round truck 17. Flames on truck 18. Fire engine 19. Burning truck 20. Exterior of hospital 21. Interior ward 22. Injured man with doctors 23. Injured man with bloody shirt 24. Man on stretcher wounded 25. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Injured man (No name given): "I am a taxi driver. I was driving past the football stadium and they came to attack us." (Question: Who attacked you?) "The Americans." 26. Exterior of hospital STORYLINE: Shiite Muslim militiamen clashed with Polish-led coalition troops in the holy city of Karbala on Friday, the latest skirmish between followers of a radical cleric and coalition forces in the south. One soldier was injured and taken to a military hospital for treatment. Footage showed smoke and flames billowing from a disabled military truck, along with a military helmet and a pool of blood on a Karbala street. Angry city residents condemned the occupation and shouted support for radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. A spokesman for Camp Babylon, the main Polish base in the region, said militiamen attacked a military convoy made up of Polish, Bulgarian, Lithuanian and Latvian soldiers near city hall in the centre of Karbala around the time of Muslim Friday prayers. Militiamen and soldiers exchanged fire. The spokesman said he would withhold the nationality of the injured soldier until the soldier's national ministry of defence was notified. After the attack, a combat force made up of Poles, Bulgarians, Lithuanians and Latvians were sent in to "secure the area and reinforce the city hall," according to a statement e-mailed by another multinational force spokesman, Major Slawomir Walenczykowski. Al-Sadr's al-Mahdi Army rose up across the south at the beginning of April, taking control of several cities and engaging in bloody battles with coalition forces in the region. Over the past week the al-Mahdi militiamen have returned police stations in Karbala, Kufa and Najaf to Iraqi authorities, but gunmen continue to roam the streets and have occasionally fired on coalition troops. Find out more about AP Archive: www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​ Instagram: www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/562be4b842a02a7…

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