Monday, September 10, 2007
National Dialogue Front rejons parliament
Politics
(CNN) -- A small Sunni Arab bloc ended its boycott of Iraq's parliament Saturday, boosting the appearance of national unity just days before key reports are due in Washington on Iraq's progress. Saleh al-Mutlaq, who leads the National Dialogue Front, told CNN that the Sunni Arab group's 11 members of parliament returned to the 275-seat legislature after their demands were met.
"The government has agreed to allocate funds to displaced families ... and it has agreed to delay negotiations on the oil law until after Ramadan," he said in a telephone interview from Amman, Jordan. Ramadan is the Muslim month of fasting, which begins next week. "We are therefore today heeding the call of the speaker to end our boycott."
Al-Mutlaq said the decision also was based in part on some U.S. policy changes in Iraq. "Americans were only talking with the Kurdish bloc and the Shiite bloc. Now, they are starting to be somehow fair," he said. "They are working with tribes to get rid of al Qaeda and putting pressure on the militias."
"The government has agreed to allocate funds to displaced families ... and it has agreed to delay negotiations on the oil law until after Ramadan," he said in a telephone interview from Amman, Jordan. Ramadan is the Muslim month of fasting, which begins next week. "We are therefore today heeding the call of the speaker to end our boycott."
Al-Mutlaq said the decision also was based in part on some U.S. policy changes in Iraq. "Americans were only talking with the Kurdish bloc and the Shiite bloc. Now, they are starting to be somehow fair," he said. "They are working with tribes to get rid of al Qaeda and putting pressure on the militias."
Iraq's parliament is preparing to tackle key legislation in response to U.S. benchmarks aimed at measuring Iraq's progress toward national unity. Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker are to appear before Congress this week to present their assessments. "We are hoping that the Americans are realizing that the sectarian parties or Islamic parties cannot govern Iraq, and they should support the national liberal trend in Iraq," al-Mutlaq said.
In spite of the political progress, at least 15 civilians were killed in separate explosions around Iraq, officials said Saturday. At least 10 people were killed and 30 wounded when a suicide car bomb exploded Saturday evening outside a police station in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, an Interior Ministry official said. The bomb went off at 6:30 p.m. (10:30 a.m. ET) in the densely populated and predominantly Shiite district.
A hand grenade exploded in a market south of the capital in Kufa, killing at least three Iraqi civilians and wounding six others Saturday afternoon, Najaf police said. Following the blast, police said Kufa and Najaf -- both major Shiite cities -- were shut down for two hours.
In spite of the political progress, at least 15 civilians were killed in separate explosions around Iraq, officials said Saturday. At least 10 people were killed and 30 wounded when a suicide car bomb exploded Saturday evening outside a police station in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, an Interior Ministry official said. The bomb went off at 6:30 p.m. (10:30 a.m. ET) in the densely populated and predominantly Shiite district.
A hand grenade exploded in a market south of the capital in Kufa, killing at least three Iraqi civilians and wounding six others Saturday afternoon, Najaf police said. Following the blast, police said Kufa and Najaf -- both major Shiite cities -- were shut down for two hours.
Labels: Kufa, lockdown, National Dialogue Front, Sadr City, Saleh al-Mutlaq, suicide car bomber
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Baghdad lockdown for religious festival
Security
(AFP) - All traffic will be banned in the war-torn Iraqi capital Baghdad this week to protect the Shiite pilgrims expected to throng a city shrine for a major festival, security forces said on Tuesday. The vehicle curfew will come into effect at 10 pm on Wednesday and last until 5 am on Saturday in an effort to secure the city during the anniversary the death of the Imam Musa Kadhim, Brigadier General Qassim Atta said.
In the Kadhimiyah district of the city, home to Kadhim's tomb and the centre of the celebrations, the curfew will begin on Tuesday night, he added. "The aim of the curfew is to deny terrorists and takfiri (sectarian extremists) any opportunity to strike," Atta, the chief spokesman of the Baghdad security plan, told state television. Atta said civilians would not be allowed to carry weapons and that the route that pilgrims will follow on foot to the shrine would be tightly controlled by Iraqi security forces.
Imam Kadhim was the seventh of the 12 Shiite imams and died in Baghdad in 799 after he was poisoned in prison. Every year tens of thousands of Shiite pilgrims mark his passing by visiting his tomb in Kadhimiyah.
Iraq is in the grip of sectarian war and previous pilgrimages have been marred by violence and accidents. In August 2005, at least 965 people were killed when fears of attack triggered a stampede on a Tigris river bridge.
In the Kadhimiyah district of the city, home to Kadhim's tomb and the centre of the celebrations, the curfew will begin on Tuesday night, he added. "The aim of the curfew is to deny terrorists and takfiri (sectarian extremists) any opportunity to strike," Atta, the chief spokesman of the Baghdad security plan, told state television. Atta said civilians would not be allowed to carry weapons and that the route that pilgrims will follow on foot to the shrine would be tightly controlled by Iraqi security forces.
Imam Kadhim was the seventh of the 12 Shiite imams and died in Baghdad in 799 after he was poisoned in prison. Every year tens of thousands of Shiite pilgrims mark his passing by visiting his tomb in Kadhimiyah.
Iraq is in the grip of sectarian war and previous pilgrimages have been marred by violence and accidents. In August 2005, at least 965 people were killed when fears of attack triggered a stampede on a Tigris river bridge.
Labels: Baghdad, Brigadier General Qassim Atta, curfew, Imam Musa Kadhim, Kadhimiyah, lockdown, religious festival, Shiite pilgrims
