Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Media: AFP
Byline: Dave Clark
Date: 17 October 2006
BAGHDAD, Oct 17, 2006 (AFP) - Iraq's beleaguered government struggled to
assert its battered authority Tuesday, purging the police force and sending
troops into a town reeling from a four-day sectarian bloodbath.
The US military said Iraqi and American troops were restoring order in the
town of Balad and the killing fields around, a region convulsed by the
random slaughter of civilians by rival Sunni and Shiite death squads.
"The violence began when 19 Shia were kidnapped and killed Friday in
Al-Dhuluiyah, east of Balad. The following day, more than 38 Sunnis were
killed in retaliation," the US military said in a statement.
"Also, in the past 48 hours, the city has been hit with five indirect fire
attacks, killing six civilians and wounding 10," it added, referring to
mortar fire.
Malik Laftah, the head of Balad city council, told AFP many corpses were
still lying in the streets and that 17 mortar shells had hit the city
limits Tuesday, indicating the final toll could be higher.
"No one dares to move around and the Mahdi Army is controlling the town,"
he said, referring to the powerful militia loyal to the radical Shiite
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, which has been accused of taking part in the
attacks.
The coalition insisted, however, that US and Iraqi government forces were
now in control, having decreed a vehicle curfew and set up checkpoints to
prevent Shiite and Sunni gangs from continuing the slaughter.
"We continue to conduct our normal patrols in the city and provide support
for Iraqi security forces as they lead operations in stopping the sectarian
violence in Balad," said US army Lieutenant Colonel Jeffery Martindale.
Martindale also, however, confirmed that two Iraqi police officers had been
arrested for taking part in the massacre which triggered the orgy of
violence.
Iraqi police are often accused of collaborating with illegal militia, and
on Tuesday the interior ministry announced that it was to reorganise the
force.
Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Abdel Karim Khalaf told reporters that
1,228 officers had been sacked for breaking the law while nearly 2,000 more
were purged from the ranks for dereliction of duty.
"This restructuring was applied this week to the leadership of the National
Police," Khalaf said. "The headquarters of two divisions were dissolved and
all brigades were brought directly under the commander of the National
Police."
The National Police was hastily thrown together to address security
shortages and is notorious for being infiltrated by the very Shiite
militias which US commanders now say are the biggest threat to Iraq's
stability.
"The government is determined to fight the armed groups by all political or
military means," the office of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Tuesday.
"It will not hesitate to strike whoever tries to violate the security of
the country and threaten the civil peace," the statement added.
Maliki's restatement of a long-standing promise came amid mounting concern
among his backers in the United States that his government has failed to
rise to the challenge posed by the militias and their political sponsors.
"There is more to be done," said White House spokesman Tony Snow on Monday.
"The violence level is absolutely unacceptable and it is important to make
progress," he said while stressing, however, that President George W. Bush
"believes the prime minister is doing everything in his power to do it".
The next challenge to Maliki's authority could come from Sadr's movement,
which reacted with fury Tuesday to the arrest of one of its most important
precinct captains, allegedly by US forces.
"US forces raided the home of Sheikh Mazen al-Saedi, head of the Sadr
movement offices in Karkh (west Baghdad) and arrested him," Hamdallah
al-Rikabi, a spokesman for Sadr's movement, told AFP.
"Five other members of the office were arrested as well in a series of
raids in Shuala," he said, referring to a Shiite neighborhood in northeast
Baghdad.
The coalition would not immediately comment on the claim.
"Sadr's office is preparing for an official massive demonstration tomorrow
in Karkh in which schools and some government departments will be
involved," Rikabi threatened.
In addition to fielding several thousand armed Mahdi Army militiamen,
Sadr's movement also has 30 seats in parliament and controls three
ministries.
Meanwhile, violence continued elsewhere in Iraq.
Insurgents detonated a suicide car bomb in the southern Baghdad suburb of
Saidiyah, killing two National Police commandos and wounding nine people.
A mortar shell crashed into Wathiq Square in Baghdad's middle-class Karrada
neighborhood, killing three people including a policeman and wounding seven
more, a security official said.
In the southern city of Basra, gynaecologist Dr Youssra Hashem became the
latest female professional to be killed amid a rise in violence against
women by conservative Muslim factions, health spokesman Kadhim Jawad said.
Four university students were also gunned down, Basra police said.
Byline: Dave Clark
Date: 17 October 2006
BAGHDAD, Oct 17, 2006 (AFP) - Iraq's beleaguered government struggled to
assert its battered authority Tuesday, purging the police force and sending
troops into a town reeling from a four-day sectarian bloodbath.
The US military said Iraqi and American troops were restoring order in the
town of Balad and the killing fields around, a region convulsed by the
random slaughter of civilians by rival Sunni and Shiite death squads.
"The violence began when 19 Shia were kidnapped and killed Friday in
Al-Dhuluiyah, east of Balad. The following day, more than 38 Sunnis were
killed in retaliation," the US military said in a statement.
"Also, in the past 48 hours, the city has been hit with five indirect fire
attacks, killing six civilians and wounding 10," it added, referring to
mortar fire.
Malik Laftah, the head of Balad city council, told AFP many corpses were
still lying in the streets and that 17 mortar shells had hit the city
limits Tuesday, indicating the final toll could be higher.
"No one dares to move around and the Mahdi Army is controlling the town,"
he said, referring to the powerful militia loyal to the radical Shiite
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, which has been accused of taking part in the
attacks.
The coalition insisted, however, that US and Iraqi government forces were
now in control, having decreed a vehicle curfew and set up checkpoints to
prevent Shiite and Sunni gangs from continuing the slaughter.
"We continue to conduct our normal patrols in the city and provide support
for Iraqi security forces as they lead operations in stopping the sectarian
violence in Balad," said US army Lieutenant Colonel Jeffery Martindale.
Martindale also, however, confirmed that two Iraqi police officers had been
arrested for taking part in the massacre which triggered the orgy of
violence.
Iraqi police are often accused of collaborating with illegal militia, and
on Tuesday the interior ministry announced that it was to reorganise the
force.
Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Abdel Karim Khalaf told reporters that
1,228 officers had been sacked for breaking the law while nearly 2,000 more
were purged from the ranks for dereliction of duty.
"This restructuring was applied this week to the leadership of the National
Police," Khalaf said. "The headquarters of two divisions were dissolved and
all brigades were brought directly under the commander of the National
Police."
The National Police was hastily thrown together to address security
shortages and is notorious for being infiltrated by the very Shiite
militias which US commanders now say are the biggest threat to Iraq's
stability.
"The government is determined to fight the armed groups by all political or
military means," the office of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Tuesday.
"It will not hesitate to strike whoever tries to violate the security of
the country and threaten the civil peace," the statement added.
Maliki's restatement of a long-standing promise came amid mounting concern
among his backers in the United States that his government has failed to
rise to the challenge posed by the militias and their political sponsors.
"There is more to be done," said White House spokesman Tony Snow on Monday.
"The violence level is absolutely unacceptable and it is important to make
progress," he said while stressing, however, that President George W. Bush
"believes the prime minister is doing everything in his power to do it".
The next challenge to Maliki's authority could come from Sadr's movement,
which reacted with fury Tuesday to the arrest of one of its most important
precinct captains, allegedly by US forces.
"US forces raided the home of Sheikh Mazen al-Saedi, head of the Sadr
movement offices in Karkh (west Baghdad) and arrested him," Hamdallah
al-Rikabi, a spokesman for Sadr's movement, told AFP.
"Five other members of the office were arrested as well in a series of
raids in Shuala," he said, referring to a Shiite neighborhood in northeast
Baghdad.
The coalition would not immediately comment on the claim.
"Sadr's office is preparing for an official massive demonstration tomorrow
in Karkh in which schools and some government departments will be
involved," Rikabi threatened.
In addition to fielding several thousand armed Mahdi Army militiamen,
Sadr's movement also has 30 seats in parliament and controls three
ministries.
Meanwhile, violence continued elsewhere in Iraq.
Insurgents detonated a suicide car bomb in the southern Baghdad suburb of
Saidiyah, killing two National Police commandos and wounding nine people.
A mortar shell crashed into Wathiq Square in Baghdad's middle-class Karrada
neighborhood, killing three people including a policeman and wounding seven
more, a security official said.
In the southern city of Basra, gynaecologist Dr Youssra Hashem became the
latest female professional to be killed amid a rise in violence against
women by conservative Muslim factions, health spokesman Kadhim Jawad said.
Four university students were also gunned down, Basra police said.