Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Mosul curfew lifted
Security
(Gulf News) - The four-day curfew imposed on Mosul since late last Friday because of potential threats from Al Qaida to attack targets in the Sunni-dominated city was lifted yesterday, residents said. Duraid Kashmolah, Mosul's governor, announced in an earlier statement "that because of threats from Al Qaida, and to preserve the security of the city, a curfew was decided starting from late last Friday and early Monday morning."
It was not immediately known what security measures were taken in the city to face any possible threats from Al Qaida. Mosul has approximately three million inhabitants, mostly Sunni Arabs and Kurds, Christians, Yezides and Sabians. The province is facing disputes between Arabs and Kurds yet is expected to resolve this under article 140 of the permanent Iraqi constitution.
The deteriorating security situation has turned the province into a city of panic. Citizens erected barricades to the entrance of each neighbourhood after the recent attacks in the Sinjar area which claimed the lives of 344 Yezide Kurds according to the latest statistics. Meanwhile, Arab-Kurdish tension continues to prevail in the city.
Zuhair Al Tamimi, a political researcher at Mosul University, told Gulf News: "I believe there is an American and Turkish conspiracy against Mosul which aims to raise ethnic, religious and sectarian divisions...I think violence has already led citizens to a complete geographical segregation.. It means the city is divided with no official announcement, beside people cannot coexist together nor trust each other."
Talkaif, a Christian-inhabited area rushed to fortify its neighbourhoods with barriers and formed a night watch, Joseph Najeeb, an Iraqi engineer living in Talkaif, told Gulf News. "Christians will be targeted later by bloody explosions. It does not mean there is an Islamic-Christian conflict because those who do these acts are targeting Christians, Muslims, Arabs and Kurds alike. I think the plan is to empty Mosul from its original inhabitants to be controlled by regional forces."
Mosul turns into a ghost town after about 6pm. Many of its population supported Saddam's regime and some commemorate the anniversary of the deaths of Uday and Qusay (Saddam's sons) in 2003 in Mosul .Omar Al Faydhi, a cleric in Mosul, told Gulf News: "The American occupation succeeded in creating mistrust among Mosul citizens, they managed to make them accuse and kill each other."
It was not immediately known what security measures were taken in the city to face any possible threats from Al Qaida. Mosul has approximately three million inhabitants, mostly Sunni Arabs and Kurds, Christians, Yezides and Sabians. The province is facing disputes between Arabs and Kurds yet is expected to resolve this under article 140 of the permanent Iraqi constitution.
The deteriorating security situation has turned the province into a city of panic. Citizens erected barricades to the entrance of each neighbourhood after the recent attacks in the Sinjar area which claimed the lives of 344 Yezide Kurds according to the latest statistics. Meanwhile, Arab-Kurdish tension continues to prevail in the city.
Zuhair Al Tamimi, a political researcher at Mosul University, told Gulf News: "I believe there is an American and Turkish conspiracy against Mosul which aims to raise ethnic, religious and sectarian divisions...I think violence has already led citizens to a complete geographical segregation.. It means the city is divided with no official announcement, beside people cannot coexist together nor trust each other."
Talkaif, a Christian-inhabited area rushed to fortify its neighbourhoods with barriers and formed a night watch, Joseph Najeeb, an Iraqi engineer living in Talkaif, told Gulf News. "Christians will be targeted later by bloody explosions. It does not mean there is an Islamic-Christian conflict because those who do these acts are targeting Christians, Muslims, Arabs and Kurds alike. I think the plan is to empty Mosul from its original inhabitants to be controlled by regional forces."
Mosul turns into a ghost town after about 6pm. Many of its population supported Saddam's regime and some commemorate the anniversary of the deaths of Uday and Qusay (Saddam's sons) in 2003 in Mosul .Omar Al Faydhi, a cleric in Mosul, told Gulf News: "The American occupation succeeded in creating mistrust among Mosul citizens, they managed to make them accuse and kill each other."
Labels: Al Qaeda, curfew, Duraid Kashmolah, Mosul
