As Muslims marked the end of the last day-time fast of Ramadan, a leader from the Sunni Muslim community in Iraq called Monday for a week-long ceasefire to allow peaceful celebration of the Eid al-Fitr holidays.
"I call on the resistance to suspend operations this week so that Iraqis can live in peace, without the blast of explosives, bombs and shooting," said Adnan al-Dulaimi, head of Iraq's Sunni religious administration (Waqf.)
"I ask also the occupation forces not to deal with Iraqis as terrorists. We are peaceful, apostles of peace and not evil," he said in an Eid sermon at Baghdad's Oum al-Qora mosque, AFP reported.
Dulaimi also urged the US-led occupation to "stop the searches of homes and the hunt for Iraqis so that they can live this week in peace and quiet."
In the meantime, US soldiers opened fire after an explosion near a military convoy Monday in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
According to the military, gunmen activated a roadside bomb and opened fire on the convoy, injuring a soldier.
Local residents said US troops immediately cordoned the area in Hay al-Dobat neighborhood.
Meanwhile, an oil pipeline near the northern city of Kirkuk was on fire Monday, and local officials said the blaze may have been caused by sabotage.
The fire took place on a subsidiary line linking oil fields east of Kirkuk with the main pipeline in the region, said Abdel al-Qazzaz, manager of the Northern Oil Company, adding that he believed sabotage was to blame.
Elsewhere, a US military convoy came under rocket-propelled grenade attack on a bridge over the Tigris river in the center of Baghdad Monday morning but there no casualties, police said.
"An RPG was fired against a convoy on the al-Shaab bridge, one vehicle was slightly damaged," said Police Major Ali Amid.
For its part, the American military said a convoy had been hit by what it described as a roadside bomb in the capital, but it was not clear whether the incident was the same.
"This morning at 8:30 am (0530 GMT), an IED (improvised explosive device) attack on a convoy in Baghdad damaged two Humvees," a spokesman said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
