Thursday, October 12, 2006
Gunmen raid Sunni TV station
Security
Gunmen raided the Baghdad offices of a new Sunni television station Thursday, killing four guards and two employees, police said. An unknown number of gunmen pulled up at the southeastern Baghdad offices of Iraq's Shaabiya satellite station in six cars, stormed in, opened fire, and fled, police Lt. Bilal Ali Majid said. The raid on came at around 7 a.m., police 1st Lt. Mohammed Kheyoun. The station went on the air earlier this year.
Shaabiya is owned by the National Justice and Progress Party, a small secular party which contested the last two elections but failed to win any seats in parliament. Shaabiya has so far only done test broadcasts, mainly of patriotic songs. Kamil said the staff had been a mix of Sunnis, Kurds and Shi'ites and that the station had no political agenda. Kamil said among those killed was the head of the party, Abdul-Rahim Nasrallah, who was also head of the station's board of directors.
Around the same time, a bomb exploded at 7 a.m. near a Shiite mosque in the Qahira neighborhood of northeastern Baghdad. Two minutes later, another bomb exploded nearby, wounding four people who had gathered at the site of the first explosion, police 1st Lt. Ahmed Mohammed Ali said. Insurgents increasingly are detonating secondary bombs to cause high casualties among onlookers and rescue workers responding to the first explosion.
Elsewhere, in Diwaniyah, 80 miles south of Baghdad, gunmen broke into the city's Hamza police station, killing one policeman and freeing 10 prisoners who were being held on various criminal charges, police Lt. Raid Jabir said. The raid came at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jabir said.
Around the same time, a bomb exploded at 7 a.m. near a Shiite mosque in the Qahira neighborhood of northeastern Baghdad. Two minutes later, another bomb exploded nearby, wounding four people who had gathered at the site of the first explosion, police 1st Lt. Ahmed Mohammed Ali said. Insurgents increasingly are detonating secondary bombs to cause high casualties among onlookers and rescue workers responding to the first explosion.
Elsewhere, in Diwaniyah, 80 miles south of Baghdad, gunmen broke into the city's Hamza police station, killing one policeman and freeing 10 prisoners who were being held on various criminal charges, police Lt. Raid Jabir said. The raid came at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jabir said.
COMMENT: It is likely the raid on the TV station was carried out by Shia militias such as al-Sadr'sMahdi Militia or an offshoot of it, or SCIRI's Badr Corps. The bombs near the Shia mosque were possibly the act of Sunni insurgents. Both incidents are likely to lead to reprisal attacks. Following fighting in Diwaniyah between the Mahdi Militia or rogue elements of it and Iraqi and U.S. forces, arrests were made. It is probable that the gunmen were releasing fellow fighters who had been arrested. COMMENT ENDS.
