Monday, March 12, 2007
Insurgents burn down houses in new tactic
Insurgency
(New York Times) Sunni militants burned homes in a mixed city northeast of Baghdad on Saturday and Sunday, forcing dozens of families to flee and raising the specter of a new intimidation tactic in Iraq’s evolving civil war, Iraqi officials and witnesses said. Attackers burned both Sunni and Shiite homes in a neighborhood of Muqdadiya, a city of about 200,000 in Diyala Province, about 60 miles from Baghdad. There were differing reports about how many houses were affected. A security official in Diyala said that at least 30 houses were completely burned, including occupied and abandoned buildings, while a Sunni Arab politician from the area said that only six houses were destroyed. Some witnesses said as many as 100 houses were set on fire.
Victims from both sects blamed the Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella organization for Sunni extremists that has taken over several other towns in the area. Residents said the group had recently demanded money, weapons and oaths of support from the local populace. They said the burnings were intended to scare people into giving in or running away. Dozens of families escaped the city, either left homeless by the attacks or terrified that they would be next.
The attacks reignited fears that Iraq is being hollowed out by efforts in some areas to drive out those who do not support an extremist sectarian agenda. Many mixed neighborhoods of Baghdad have already been transformed into homogenous enclaves, with Shiites and Sunnis issuing death threats to the minority sect and even those who intermarry or have cross-sectarian friendships.
Even before the house burnings over the weekend, Diyala had become a cauldron of daily violence, with American and Iraqi forces fighting a growing Sunni threat that has often overwhelmed the province’s Shiite leaders. Residents report that in some villages, the Islamic State of Iraq brazenly flies flags that declare loyalty to Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi, the group’s leader, in what appears to be both a warning and a taunt to the group’s opponents.
American military officials have said they are increasingly concerned about the area’s slide into chaos. The commander for northern Iraq, Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, said this week that he had already shifted additional troops to the province and asked for extra reinforcements. On Thursday, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, said Diyala would “very likely” get more troops as part of an increase concentrated in Baghdad.
Victims from both sects blamed the Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella organization for Sunni extremists that has taken over several other towns in the area. Residents said the group had recently demanded money, weapons and oaths of support from the local populace. They said the burnings were intended to scare people into giving in or running away. Dozens of families escaped the city, either left homeless by the attacks or terrified that they would be next.
The attacks reignited fears that Iraq is being hollowed out by efforts in some areas to drive out those who do not support an extremist sectarian agenda. Many mixed neighborhoods of Baghdad have already been transformed into homogenous enclaves, with Shiites and Sunnis issuing death threats to the minority sect and even those who intermarry or have cross-sectarian friendships.
Even before the house burnings over the weekend, Diyala had become a cauldron of daily violence, with American and Iraqi forces fighting a growing Sunni threat that has often overwhelmed the province’s Shiite leaders. Residents report that in some villages, the Islamic State of Iraq brazenly flies flags that declare loyalty to Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi, the group’s leader, in what appears to be both a warning and a taunt to the group’s opponents.
American military officials have said they are increasingly concerned about the area’s slide into chaos. The commander for northern Iraq, Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, said this week that he had already shifted additional troops to the province and asked for extra reinforcements. On Thursday, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, said Diyala would “very likely” get more troops as part of an increase concentrated in Baghdad.
Labels: Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, Islamic State of Iraq, Muqdadiya, Sunni insurgents
