Wednesday, August 29, 2007
52 dead in Karbala as rival Shiite militias battle for power
Security
(Al Jazeera) - Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, has ordered an indefinite curfew in Karbala, Iraqi state TV says, a day after fighting left at least 52 people dead during an annual Shia pilgrimage. A spokesman for al-Maliki said on Wednesday that he had arrived in Karbala to inspect the situation. Al-Maliki said on Wednesday that his troops had restored calm to the city and blamed "outlawed armed criminal gangs from the remnants of the buried Saddam regime" for the violence.
However, the violence among rival Shia factions appeared to have spread overnight. Fighters attacked the offices of a powerful Shia party in at least five cities, setting many of them ablaze. In a separate incident on Wednesday in Mosul to the north, armed men raided an Iraqi police checkpoint on Wednesday and killed five policemen and a civilian, police said.
Al-Maliki, in a statement on Wednesday, said: "The situation in Karbala is under control after military reinforcements arrived and police and military special forces have spread throughout the city to purge those killers and criminals." Sporadic and occasionally sustained gunfire could still be heard after dawn in the city, coming from the area around the shrines of Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas.
The fighting killed 52 people and wounded 206 on Tuesday, a senior security official in Baghdad said. The general director of the al-Hussein hospital in Karbala, 110km south of the capital, said it had received 34 bodies and treated 239 wounded. Ali Kadhum, an official at the shrines' media office, said the two shrines had been slightly damaged, with bullets hitting their domes and minarets and an electric power station ruined.
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims had gathered in the city to mark the birthday of the 12th and last Shia imam. The interior ministry accused al-Mahdi army, a militia loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia leader, of attacking government forces in Karbala, the site of two shrines under the control of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC). Al-Sadr's forces are vying with the SIIC for power in the regions south of Baghdad.
Al-Sadr called for calm on Tuesday night but police said SIIC buildings were torched overnight in Baghdad's Kadhimiya neighbourhood, in the city of Kufa, in Iskandariya and in al-Hamza district of Babil province. Another SIIC headquarters was struck by rocket-propelled grenades in the centre of Najaf.
This week's Shia pilgrimage was to have reached its high point on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Thousands thronged the city to mark the12th imam's birthday. Pilgrims had earlier complained about the level of security - which they said was so high it made movement frustratingly slow near the Imam al-Hussein mosque. Security was high as pilgrims have been killed in previous years by suicide bombers.
Major-General Abdul-Karim Khalaf, a spokesman for the interior ministry, said al-Maliki had dispatched more troops to the area from Baghdad and the surrounding areas. Khalaf described the armed men as "criminals" and said that the curfew was imposed because of fears for the large mass of pilgrims. He said: "The situation now is under control, but what is worrying is that the pilgrims are in huge numbers."
However, the violence among rival Shia factions appeared to have spread overnight. Fighters attacked the offices of a powerful Shia party in at least five cities, setting many of them ablaze. In a separate incident on Wednesday in Mosul to the north, armed men raided an Iraqi police checkpoint on Wednesday and killed five policemen and a civilian, police said.
Al-Maliki, in a statement on Wednesday, said: "The situation in Karbala is under control after military reinforcements arrived and police and military special forces have spread throughout the city to purge those killers and criminals." Sporadic and occasionally sustained gunfire could still be heard after dawn in the city, coming from the area around the shrines of Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas.
The fighting killed 52 people and wounded 206 on Tuesday, a senior security official in Baghdad said. The general director of the al-Hussein hospital in Karbala, 110km south of the capital, said it had received 34 bodies and treated 239 wounded. Ali Kadhum, an official at the shrines' media office, said the two shrines had been slightly damaged, with bullets hitting their domes and minarets and an electric power station ruined.
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims had gathered in the city to mark the birthday of the 12th and last Shia imam. The interior ministry accused al-Mahdi army, a militia loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia leader, of attacking government forces in Karbala, the site of two shrines under the control of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC). Al-Sadr's forces are vying with the SIIC for power in the regions south of Baghdad.
Al-Sadr called for calm on Tuesday night but police said SIIC buildings were torched overnight in Baghdad's Kadhimiya neighbourhood, in the city of Kufa, in Iskandariya and in al-Hamza district of Babil province. Another SIIC headquarters was struck by rocket-propelled grenades in the centre of Najaf.
This week's Shia pilgrimage was to have reached its high point on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Thousands thronged the city to mark the12th imam's birthday. Pilgrims had earlier complained about the level of security - which they said was so high it made movement frustratingly slow near the Imam al-Hussein mosque. Security was high as pilgrims have been killed in previous years by suicide bombers.
Major-General Abdul-Karim Khalaf, a spokesman for the interior ministry, said al-Maliki had dispatched more troops to the area from Baghdad and the surrounding areas. Khalaf described the armed men as "criminals" and said that the curfew was imposed because of fears for the large mass of pilgrims. He said: "The situation now is under control, but what is worrying is that the pilgrims are in huge numbers."
COMMENT: Tensions are high in southern Iraq as the Mahdi Army and the Badr Organisation (the militia arm of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council - SIIC) fight for power. These tensions could easily escalate. Several issues have added to the hostilities between the rival groups; the recent assassinations of two SIIC governors, and the power vacuum left in Basrah as the British have decreased their presence. The security forces in karbala are also heavily infiltrated by the Badr Organisation. COMMENT ENDS.
Labels: Badr Organisation, curfew, Karbala, Mahdi Army, Major-General Abdul-Karim Khalaf, Moqtada Al-Sadr, Nouri Al-Maliki, Sha'abaniya, Shiite pilgrims, SIIC
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Quds press - Mahdi Army threatened Governor of Muthanna
Security
(Quds Press) - Following the assassination of Governor al-Hassani, a curfew was imposed on al-Muthanna Province. Muhammad ‘Ali al-Hassani had served the American occupation as “Governor” of al-Muthanna Province since October 2003. He was a leader of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC).
In a dispatch posted on its website Monday, Quds Press reported that al-Hassani took a strong stand against the rival Shi‘i sectarian Jaysh al-Mahdi militia, helping US forces to crack down on the followers of sectarian cleric Muqtada as-Sadr a little over two months ago. With the help of al-Hassani dozens of Jaysh al-Mahdi gunmen were arrested as were numerous employees of the Muqtada as-Sadr office in the city.
Sources in as-Samawah told Quds Press that members of the puppet security forces (many of whom are simultaneously members of either the Jaysh al-Mahdi or the Badr Brigades) were believed to have been involved in the assassination.
Quds Press reported that the Jaysh al-Mahdi had been circulating leaflets in al-Muthanna Province threatening the puppet governor and members of the city council, blaming them for the arrests of the Jaysh al-Mahdi members earlier in the year.
Observers quoted by Quds Press said that the whole of southern Iraq was likely to ignite in a large scale turf war between rival Shi‘i fundamentalist sectarian militias as they battle for control of that part of the country as Britain and the US reduce their presence in the area.
Sources in as-Samawah told Quds Press that members of the puppet security forces (many of whom are simultaneously members of either the Jaysh al-Mahdi or the Badr Brigades) were believed to have been involved in the assassination.
Quds Press reported that the Jaysh al-Mahdi had been circulating leaflets in al-Muthanna Province threatening the puppet governor and members of the city council, blaming them for the arrests of the Jaysh al-Mahdi members earlier in the year.
Observers quoted by Quds Press said that the whole of southern Iraq was likely to ignite in a large scale turf war between rival Shi‘i fundamentalist sectarian militias as they battle for control of that part of the country as Britain and the US reduce their presence in the area.
As-Samawah and ad-Diwaniyah have witnessed intermittent clashes between the Jaysh al-Mahdi and Badr Brigades in recent days following the assassination of the puppet governor of ad-Diwaniyah. Jalil Hamzah, the puppet regime’s chief administrator in ad-Diwaniyah died in the explosion of a device identical to that which killed al-Hassani on Monday – a type of explosive device that is said to be made in Iran.
Labels: Badr Organisation, Jaysh al-Mahdi, Mahdi Army, Muhammad ‘Ali al-Hassani, Muthanna province, Samawa, SIIC
Monday, August 13, 2007
Governor and police chief of Qadisiya killed
Security
(Al Jazeera) - Hundreds of mourners turned out to bury an assassinated provincial governor and chief of police on Sunday as the Iraqi prime minister ordered an investigation into their killings, which he called "a seditious act", and appealed for talks to end an ongoing cabinet crisis. Khalil Jalil Hamza, the governor, and Khalid Hassan, the police chief, of the southern province of Qadisiya were killed by a roadside bomb on Saturday as they headed back to Diwaniya, the provincial capital, from the funeral of a tribal sheikh. Both men were Shi’a.
Iraqi police and soldiers tightly surrounded the centre of the Shia city of Najaf, where the bodies were brought on Sunday for burial. Carrying Iraqi flags and posters of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the country's Shia cleric, the mourners set out from the Shia Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) offices joined by a number of officials. Police said on Sunday they had arrested two men, a commander of a force that protects infrastructure in Diwaniya, and his deputy, who were believed to have been near the site of the attack.
In Baghdad, the office of Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, mourned the passing of Hamza and Hassan and announced that an investigation into their deaths was under way. Jalal Talabani, Iraq's president, had described the attack as a "cowardly terrorist act" by Sunnis fighters who had been displaced by the current security crackdown by Iraqi and US forces. Talabani's office said: "They have committed a crime in a secure part of our country after they were besieged and kicked out of Anbar, Diyala and Samarra."
General David Petraeus, the US military commander, and Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador, issued a joint statement condemning the killings. But Diwaniya residents said on Sunday they feared all-out war among rival Shia factions after Saturday's assassinations. The SIIC and supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr, the anti-American Shia leader, are said by local residents to be targeting each other in an armed conflict mainly through assassinations. SIIC's armed wing, the Badr Organisation, controls the police who fight al-Sadr's al-Mahdi Army militia. The Shia-dominated south has become increasingly restless as factions vie for control of the oil-rich region, often pitting police loyal to one bloc against militiamen of others.
Iraqi police and soldiers tightly surrounded the centre of the Shia city of Najaf, where the bodies were brought on Sunday for burial. Carrying Iraqi flags and posters of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the country's Shia cleric, the mourners set out from the Shia Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) offices joined by a number of officials. Police said on Sunday they had arrested two men, a commander of a force that protects infrastructure in Diwaniya, and his deputy, who were believed to have been near the site of the attack.
In Baghdad, the office of Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, mourned the passing of Hamza and Hassan and announced that an investigation into their deaths was under way. Jalal Talabani, Iraq's president, had described the attack as a "cowardly terrorist act" by Sunnis fighters who had been displaced by the current security crackdown by Iraqi and US forces. Talabani's office said: "They have committed a crime in a secure part of our country after they were besieged and kicked out of Anbar, Diyala and Samarra."
General David Petraeus, the US military commander, and Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador, issued a joint statement condemning the killings. But Diwaniya residents said on Sunday they feared all-out war among rival Shia factions after Saturday's assassinations. The SIIC and supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr, the anti-American Shia leader, are said by local residents to be targeting each other in an armed conflict mainly through assassinations. SIIC's armed wing, the Badr Organisation, controls the police who fight al-Sadr's al-Mahdi Army militia. The Shia-dominated south has become increasingly restless as factions vie for control of the oil-rich region, often pitting police loyal to one bloc against militiamen of others.
COMMENT: Jalil was a former top operative in the Badr Brigade, a former paramilitary group based in Iran that has since changed its name to the Badr Organization. The Badr Organization issued a statement calling Jalil a “holy fighter” and seemed to implicate elements of the Imam Al-Mahdi Army, which is loyal to Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, in his killing. An al-Sadr spokesman denied his organization’s involvement in the deaths of the governor and his police chief. COMMENT ENDS.
Labels: Afak, Badr Organisation, Brig .Gen. Khalid Abed Hassan, Diwaniyah, Khalil Jalil Hamzah, Mahdi Army, Najaf, Nouri Al-Maliki, Qadisiya, SIIC
