Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Sayid Al Sistani’s Representative Assassinated In Basrah
Security
(Addustour Newspaper) - 3 SEP - Two gunmen have assassinated Al Sayid Muslim Al Battat, the Imam of the Al Orwat Al Wouthqa (Shiite) Mosque (located) in Basrah (city). Meanwhile, the (Basrah) office of the Mihrab Martyr Institute was fired upon by unidentified gunmen; one (of the Institute’s) guard was wounded.
On Friday night, two gunmen, riding on a motorcycle, killed Al Sayid Muslim Al Battat, the Imam of the Al Orwat Al Wouthqa (Shiite) Mosque… (Imam Al Batat was) also was a representative for Sayid Al Sistani in Basrah Province. (His assassination occurred) in the Al Farsi area (of Basrah), while he (the Imam) was leaving his Mosque and returning home...his brother and cousin were with him (at the time of this attack)
All of the preceding statements are based on reports from an anonymous source in the (Basrah) Province Police Commander’s office. Meanwhile, according to eyewitnesses (elsewhere in Basrah): the (Basrah) office of the Mihrab Martyr Institute was fired upon by unidentified gunmen…in a car. One (of the Institute’s) guard was wounded; he was transported to the hospital.
Basrah City witnessed a security alert on Wednesday, due to recent events in Karbala. On the other hand a Basrah Police source stated: a police officer (an IP Captain) was released by the unidentified gunmen who had kidnapped him a week ago, south of Basrah city. The source explained, “One week after Captain Firas Saddoun Jassim was kidnapped…his kidnappers released him.” The source added, “This officer (CPT Jasim) is a Captain in a ‘special missions unit’ in Basrah. He was abducted by unidentified gunmen… a week ago, near his home in (Basrah’s) Asdiqaa neighborhood.” This source did not clarify: who had abducted this officer, or how he was released.
On Friday night, two gunmen, riding on a motorcycle, killed Al Sayid Muslim Al Battat, the Imam of the Al Orwat Al Wouthqa (Shiite) Mosque… (Imam Al Batat was) also was a representative for Sayid Al Sistani in Basrah Province. (His assassination occurred) in the Al Farsi area (of Basrah), while he (the Imam) was leaving his Mosque and returning home...his brother and cousin were with him (at the time of this attack)
All of the preceding statements are based on reports from an anonymous source in the (Basrah) Province Police Commander’s office. Meanwhile, according to eyewitnesses (elsewhere in Basrah): the (Basrah) office of the Mihrab Martyr Institute was fired upon by unidentified gunmen…in a car. One (of the Institute’s) guard was wounded; he was transported to the hospital.
Basrah City witnessed a security alert on Wednesday, due to recent events in Karbala. On the other hand a Basrah Police source stated: a police officer (an IP Captain) was released by the unidentified gunmen who had kidnapped him a week ago, south of Basrah city. The source explained, “One week after Captain Firas Saddoun Jassim was kidnapped…his kidnappers released him.” The source added, “This officer (CPT Jasim) is a Captain in a ‘special missions unit’ in Basrah. He was abducted by unidentified gunmen… a week ago, near his home in (Basrah’s) Asdiqaa neighborhood.” This source did not clarify: who had abducted this officer, or how he was released.
Labels: Al Sayid Muslim Al Battat, assassination, Basra, Sistani
Sunday, May 06, 2007
U.S. forces arrest Shiites accused of smuggling bombs from Iran
Security
(AP) - U.S.-led forces on Friday arrested suspected Shiite militants accused of smuggling powerful bomb components from Iran, and clashes between Shiite factions broke out in two major cities. The U.S. announced the deaths of five American soldiers - three of them in bombings. The arrests occurred during a raid early Friday in Baghdad's teeming Shiite district of Sadr City, stronghold of the notorious Mahdi Army militia of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
A U.S. military statement did not identify them as Mahdi Army members but said they were part of a "secret cell" that smuggles powerful bombs known as "explosively formed penetrators," or EFPs, from Iran and sends Shiite fighters from Iraq for training in Iran. U.S. and some Iraqi officials suspect the Iranians may be stoking a growing power struggle among Shiite factions and political parties - despite the Tehran government's insistence that it is working to help bring stability to its neighbor Iraq.
Clashes broke out Friday in Baghdad and in the Shiite shrine city of Najaf when police said Mahdi Army gunmen attacked offices of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Republic in Iraq, or SCIRI, a key member of the U.S.-backed Iraqi government but with strong ties to Tehran. Four people were injured in Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, prompting local authorities to impose a curfew. The clash in Baghdad occurred when Mahdi gunmen fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at a SCIRI office in the Habibiya district, injuring two guards, police said.
In Diwaniyah, a Shiite city 80 miles south of Baghdad, suspected Shiite gunmen attacked a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol late Friday, killing one Iraqi soldier and wounding four civilians, police said. It was unclear what provoked the attacks, but they appeared to be part of an escalating power struggle brewing throughout the dominant Shiite community, which intensified after Britain announced plans to draw down its troops in the mostly Shiite south.
Shiite parties are trying to oust the Shiite governor of oil-rich Basra province, and violence has broken out recently in Kut and other Shiite cities. Some Mahdi Army members in Sadr City have said a pro-Iranian faction has been sending fighters to Iran for training. The members spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears for their own safety.
In another sign of unrest, hundreds of angry Shiites poured onto the streets of Najaf and Basra to protest what they considered insults by Al-Jazeera television against Iraq's most revered Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
The protesters were angered by an Al-Jazeera talk show this week in which the host, Egyptian Ahmed Mansour, questioned al-Sistani's leadership credentials and whether he authored his own religious edicts.
Unrest in Shiite areas adds a new and dangerous dimension to the challenge facing U.S. forces as they try to restore order in the capital during the 11-week Baghdad security operation.
Attacks using EFPs, the signature weapon of Shiite militias, are on the rise. The increase in attacks using EFPs, which the U.S. says come from Iran, suggest that the Shiite extremists may be shifting tactics, reducing their slaughter of Sunni civilians but focusing more on U.S. and Iraqi forces.
A U.S. military statement did not identify them as Mahdi Army members but said they were part of a "secret cell" that smuggles powerful bombs known as "explosively formed penetrators," or EFPs, from Iran and sends Shiite fighters from Iraq for training in Iran. U.S. and some Iraqi officials suspect the Iranians may be stoking a growing power struggle among Shiite factions and political parties - despite the Tehran government's insistence that it is working to help bring stability to its neighbor Iraq.
Clashes broke out Friday in Baghdad and in the Shiite shrine city of Najaf when police said Mahdi Army gunmen attacked offices of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Republic in Iraq, or SCIRI, a key member of the U.S.-backed Iraqi government but with strong ties to Tehran. Four people were injured in Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, prompting local authorities to impose a curfew. The clash in Baghdad occurred when Mahdi gunmen fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at a SCIRI office in the Habibiya district, injuring two guards, police said.
In Diwaniyah, a Shiite city 80 miles south of Baghdad, suspected Shiite gunmen attacked a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol late Friday, killing one Iraqi soldier and wounding four civilians, police said. It was unclear what provoked the attacks, but they appeared to be part of an escalating power struggle brewing throughout the dominant Shiite community, which intensified after Britain announced plans to draw down its troops in the mostly Shiite south.
Shiite parties are trying to oust the Shiite governor of oil-rich Basra province, and violence has broken out recently in Kut and other Shiite cities. Some Mahdi Army members in Sadr City have said a pro-Iranian faction has been sending fighters to Iran for training. The members spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears for their own safety.
In another sign of unrest, hundreds of angry Shiites poured onto the streets of Najaf and Basra to protest what they considered insults by Al-Jazeera television against Iraq's most revered Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
The protesters were angered by an Al-Jazeera talk show this week in which the host, Egyptian Ahmed Mansour, questioned al-Sistani's leadership credentials and whether he authored his own religious edicts.
Unrest in Shiite areas adds a new and dangerous dimension to the challenge facing U.S. forces as they try to restore order in the capital during the 11-week Baghdad security operation.
Attacks using EFPs, the signature weapon of Shiite militias, are on the rise. The increase in attacks using EFPs, which the U.S. says come from Iran, suggest that the Shiite extremists may be shifting tactics, reducing their slaughter of Sunni civilians but focusing more on U.S. and Iraqi forces.
Labels: EFPs, explosively formed projectiles, Iran, Mahdi Army, Najaf, Sadr City, SCIRI, Shiite militants, Sistani, U.S. forces
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Iraq's Shiite clerics criticise the Arab League
Security, International, Politics
(AINA) Shiite Muslim clerics displayed growing impatience on Friday with the government's failure to stop attacks by Sunni Arab insurgents and lashed out at Sunni Arab states, who blame Iraq's Shiite-led government for sectarian divisions. On the eve of a regional meeting to discuss Iraq's security problems, clerics said the Arab League, a bloc of mainly Sunni Arab states which will attend the meeting, were infringing on Iraq's sovereignty by suggesting that constitutional reforms were needed to give non-Shiites a greater share of power.
The meeting Saturday is sure to highlight tangled loyalties, resentments and suspicions in the region, as it brings together long-time adversaries, including the U.S., Iran, and Syria, as well as representatives of the U.N. Security Council and Iraq's neighbors. The U.S. accuses Iran of providing lethal explosives to Shiite militias fighting U.S. forces in Iraq, and it says Syria has left its border with Iraq purposely unguarded to permit the flow of anti-U.S. insurgents. Iran and Syria deny the accusations. Iran, meanwhile, is at odds with the United Nations over its nuclear enrichment program.
Arab League states such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt say Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki is to blame for much of his country's strife and have vowed to use the meeting to press for changes in the government and constitution. "They should know that they must stay out of the Iraqi business," said Sayyed Ahmed Safi, addressing millions of Shiite pilgrims gathered for a religious festival in the city of Karbala. Safi, the representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, also condemned the slaughter of nearly 200 pilgrims slain by suspected Sunni insurgents as they marched toward Karbala earlier in the week and said it showed the weaknesses of the latest U.S.-Iraqi security plan.
"The security plan needs solidarity and, if possible, all the grass roots should be recruited to make it succeed, as it is the only way to bring stability back," he said, in an apparent reference to Shiite militiamen led by anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada Sadr.
The meeting Saturday is sure to highlight tangled loyalties, resentments and suspicions in the region, as it brings together long-time adversaries, including the U.S., Iran, and Syria, as well as representatives of the U.N. Security Council and Iraq's neighbors. The U.S. accuses Iran of providing lethal explosives to Shiite militias fighting U.S. forces in Iraq, and it says Syria has left its border with Iraq purposely unguarded to permit the flow of anti-U.S. insurgents. Iran and Syria deny the accusations. Iran, meanwhile, is at odds with the United Nations over its nuclear enrichment program.
Arab League states such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt say Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki is to blame for much of his country's strife and have vowed to use the meeting to press for changes in the government and constitution. "They should know that they must stay out of the Iraqi business," said Sayyed Ahmed Safi, addressing millions of Shiite pilgrims gathered for a religious festival in the city of Karbala. Safi, the representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, also condemned the slaughter of nearly 200 pilgrims slain by suspected Sunni insurgents as they marched toward Karbala earlier in the week and said it showed the weaknesses of the latest U.S.-Iraqi security plan.
"The security plan needs solidarity and, if possible, all the grass roots should be recruited to make it succeed, as it is the only way to bring stability back," he said, in an apparent reference to Shiite militiamen led by anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada Sadr.
Even if the talks are tense, analysts say it is unlikely the meeting will end in rancor because of the attendees' shared desire for stability in Iraq. "None of these countries wants Somalia on their border," said Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic Studies in Washington. "They don't want a country with armed militias running the streets."
Labels: Arab League, Sayyed Ahmed Safi, Shiite Muslim clerics, Sistani
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Abdulmahdi shows Sistani security plan
Security, Politics
(Al-Sabaah) Grand Ayatollah Mr. Ali Sistani received a message from Prime Minister Noori Maliki delivered by the vice president, Dr. A'adel Abdulmahdi, a source accompanying Abdulmahdi said. He added that the vice president showed Sistani the governmental preparations to execute a security plan and its resolution to provide services for citizens simultaneously with its progress on the plan. This indicated the Government's effort to gain the cleric's support for the plan before launching its first step.
Labels: al-Maliki, security plan, Sistani
