All hell's breaking loose, it appears...registered site, am I allowed to post all?
NAJAF, Iraq — Iraqi police, some with their faces covered by ski masks, fired several shots as they stormed a hotel packed with journalists Wednesday, rounding them up at gunpoint and forcing them onto flatbed trucks bound for the local police station, where they were detained for an hour.
At the station, Najaf Police Chief Ghaleb Hashem al-Jazairi told the 60 or so journalists they were detained because the Dubai-based satellite television channel al-Arabiya had reported that Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most prominent Shiite Muslim cleric in Iraq, would arrive in Najaf today to lead a demonstration.
"We were attacked by 14 mortar shells tonight and we expect more, so you're going to stay with us in this room to see what we go through," one officer told the journalists crowded into the chief's office.
The incident underscored how tense and unpredictable Najaf has become after three weeks of fighting between U.S.-led forces and the militia of rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Al-Sistani's sudden plan to return to Najaf and his call for Iraqi Shiite Muslims to join him there today has unsettled an already chaotic situation.http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/nation/9496903.htmSounds ominous