The streets were empty because of a dusk-to-dawn curfew but there was still an absence of people
Posted in General on 25. Sep, 2010
The streets were empty because of a dusk-to-dawn curfew, but there was still an absence of people, despite the commotion taking place outside.By the time the operation, codenamed Cauldron, had finished at 5.30am yesterday, 10 men were arrested and weapons and bomb-making equipment – explosives, detonators, circuit boards and switches – had been seized.British and Iraqi authorities claimed the finds had foiled part of a concerted campaign to violently disrupt polling in southern Iraq, where the Shia population, unlike the Sunnis further north, are expected to vote in large numbers.However, senior officers acknowledge that this is no guarantee that an attack will not take place. The plan, said the military, was for a “soft knock” by Iraqi police to gain entry by permission. The Independent on Sunday has learned that just days ago British troops shot dead three members of the Shia leader Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army near Nasiriyah.The British soldiers, from the 7th LSR (Logistical Support Regiment), had been on routine escort duty going north from Basra when they were ambushed. British forces refused to comment on claims that those arrested were Sunnis The threat, however, is not confined to one community. The Scots Guards battle group, with Warrior armoured cars and Challenger tanks, and air support, are on standby at Shaiba camp, south of Basra, for a “doomsday scenario” of bombings and street fighting.The raids were in a mixed Shia and Sunni area. As one group of soldiers moved through the narrow alleys trying to find the roof from where the blast bomb had been flung, more gunfire came from an alleyway, and then from around a nearby mosque.A 22-year-old corporal, who had just faced live fire for the first time, shook his head “I can’t believe it,” he said.
Such unflattering attention will no doubt displease the German Chancellor, Gerhard Schr?, who is counting on the World Cup to boost positive feeling in an election year.As newspaper editorials called for the game to be cleaned up, Mr Zwanziger appealed to fans not to boo referees and “to treat them with respect”. To avoid any taint of this weekend’s fixtures, referees for all matches were switched at the last minute.. The sound of the bomb blast still echoed when the shooting began. Silhouetted in moonlight, a figure steadily fired a Kalashnikov at British troops 20 yards away.
Paderborn went on to win 4-2.Mr Hoyzer, who has quit as a referee, confessed to manipulating at least three games. German football officials are currently reviewing videos of all 27 senior matches he has handled. “His confession has simply stunned me,” one German soccer manager said last week.The scandal could not have come at a worse time for Germany. With just under 500 days to go until it stages the 2006 World Cup, the country’s plans for the tournament already seem to be unravelling.