Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Media: AFP
Byline: Jay Deshmukh
Date: 1 September 2006
BAGHDAD - Iraqis braced for tit-for-tat violence on the Muslim day of rest
Friday after a spate of attacks on mainly Shiite areas of the capital raised
already sky-high tensions.
A relentless five-day bloodbath across Iraq has left nearly 400 people dead,
many of them in brutal attacks on Shiite markets and neighbourhoods in
Baghdad.
The US military has also reported 17 servicemen dead since Sunday.
On Friday it announced that two more troops had been killed in "enemy
action" in the mainly Sunni western province of Al-Anbar.
The latest deaths took the military's losses since the March 2003 invasion
to 2,637, according to an AFP count based on Pentagon figures.
Baghdad saw some of the worst fighting over the past five days.
On Thursday, a wave of seven synchronised car bomb and rocket attacks killed
at least 43 people and wounded another 160 in Shiite and Christian areas
like Sadr City and Al-Amin.
The attacks -- which came shortly before the dusk-to-dawn curfew -- saw
dozens of men, women and children falling prey to deadly assaults. They will
be blamed on Sunni extremists.
The attack in the Al-Amin neighbourhood left 14 people dead after a car bomb
exploded in a market busy with shoppers making last-minute purchases before
the curfew -- a common target for Sunni militants.
Six more explosive devices, including rockets, were detonated in three
areas, killing another 29 people. Two of them hit the capital's most
populous Shiite district of Sadr City.
Previous attacks by Sunni insurgents have been avenged by Shiite death
squads and tension was high as hundreds of thousands of Iraqis from the
rival communities went to their respective mosques.
Health officials report that nearly 100 people are killed daily across Iraq
in sectarian and insurgent violence.
The latest fighting in Baghdad comes despite a massive security crackdown
enforced by Iraqi and US forces since mid-June which has seen all vehicle
traffic banned from the streets around the main weekly prayers.
The bloodshed has undermined attempts by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to
reconcile the warring Muslim sects.
The latest bout of killing burst out after a meeting last Saturday between
Maliki and hundreds of tribal leaders, who agreed to back the Shiite
premier's reconcilation plans.
Despite the failure of security forces to rein in the raging violence,
Maliki on Thursday said that his troop were ready to take charge of security
from British-led forces in the southern province of Dhi Qar this month.
"The transfer of responsibility gives us confidence that we are coming
closer to taking over overall security responsibility throughout Iraq,"
Maliki said, in a statement released by the cabinet office.
Dhi Qar will be the second province to be handed over to Iraqi forces after
the July 13 transfer of Al-Muthanna province.
Both provinces lie in Iraq's mainly Shiite south, where British-led forces,
who have been in charge since the 2003 invasion, have faced less resistance
than their US allies further north.
Iraq is to launch a new joint military headquarters on Saturday to command
its navy, air force and 10 army divisions, totaling 115,000 troops.
Iraq's armed forces are currently coordinated by US headquarters.
Byline: Jay Deshmukh
Date: 1 September 2006
BAGHDAD - Iraqis braced for tit-for-tat violence on the Muslim day of rest
Friday after a spate of attacks on mainly Shiite areas of the capital raised
already sky-high tensions.
A relentless five-day bloodbath across Iraq has left nearly 400 people dead,
many of them in brutal attacks on Shiite markets and neighbourhoods in
Baghdad.
The US military has also reported 17 servicemen dead since Sunday.
On Friday it announced that two more troops had been killed in "enemy
action" in the mainly Sunni western province of Al-Anbar.
The latest deaths took the military's losses since the March 2003 invasion
to 2,637, according to an AFP count based on Pentagon figures.
Baghdad saw some of the worst fighting over the past five days.
On Thursday, a wave of seven synchronised car bomb and rocket attacks killed
at least 43 people and wounded another 160 in Shiite and Christian areas
like Sadr City and Al-Amin.
The attacks -- which came shortly before the dusk-to-dawn curfew -- saw
dozens of men, women and children falling prey to deadly assaults. They will
be blamed on Sunni extremists.
The attack in the Al-Amin neighbourhood left 14 people dead after a car bomb
exploded in a market busy with shoppers making last-minute purchases before
the curfew -- a common target for Sunni militants.
Six more explosive devices, including rockets, were detonated in three
areas, killing another 29 people. Two of them hit the capital's most
populous Shiite district of Sadr City.
Previous attacks by Sunni insurgents have been avenged by Shiite death
squads and tension was high as hundreds of thousands of Iraqis from the
rival communities went to their respective mosques.
Health officials report that nearly 100 people are killed daily across Iraq
in sectarian and insurgent violence.
The latest fighting in Baghdad comes despite a massive security crackdown
enforced by Iraqi and US forces since mid-June which has seen all vehicle
traffic banned from the streets around the main weekly prayers.
The bloodshed has undermined attempts by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to
reconcile the warring Muslim sects.
The latest bout of killing burst out after a meeting last Saturday between
Maliki and hundreds of tribal leaders, who agreed to back the Shiite
premier's reconcilation plans.
Despite the failure of security forces to rein in the raging violence,
Maliki on Thursday said that his troop were ready to take charge of security
from British-led forces in the southern province of Dhi Qar this month.
"The transfer of responsibility gives us confidence that we are coming
closer to taking over overall security responsibility throughout Iraq,"
Maliki said, in a statement released by the cabinet office.
Dhi Qar will be the second province to be handed over to Iraqi forces after
the July 13 transfer of Al-Muthanna province.
Both provinces lie in Iraq's mainly Shiite south, where British-led forces,
who have been in charge since the 2003 invasion, have faced less resistance
than their US allies further north.
Iraq is to launch a new joint military headquarters on Saturday to command
its navy, air force and 10 army divisions, totaling 115,000 troops.
Iraq's armed forces are currently coordinated by US headquarters.