Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Washington Times
March 16, 2008
Pg. 5
By Jaafar al-Taie, Reuters News Agency
KUT, Iraq — Iraqi police arrested dozens of members of Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia yesterday, hours after two policemen were killed in gunbattles in the southern city of Kut, police said.
Clashes last week between Iraqi security forces and the militia in Kut, 105 miles southeast of Baghdad, have raised fears a cease-fire called by Sheik al-Sadr may unravel, although the violence has so far been confined to Kut.
It’s the first major violation of the seven-month-old truce, which has been credited by the U.S. military with helping reduce violence between majority Shi’ite and Sunni Muslims that has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis.
Sheik al-Sadr clarified the conditions of the truce last week, telling followers they could defend themselves if attacked — an apparent response to complaints among his fighters that U.S. and Iraqi forces were exploiting the cease-fire to target them.
“This operation started in the early morning and so far we have arrested 25 wanted people from the Mahdi Army,” said Lt. Aziz al-Amara, who commands a rapid reaction unit.
Another police official, who declined to be named, said 70 persons had been detained. There was a heavy presence of Iraqi and U.S. forces in the city. U.S. military spokesmen have given few details about their involvement in the clashes.
Police say at least 13 persons have been killed in fighting since Tuesday.
Separately, the U.S. military said eight Iraqi civilians were wounded late Friday in a rocket attack on a U.S. facility in Hillah, 60 miles south of Baghdad, which Iraqi police blamed on an unspecified Shi’ite militia.
The latest outbreak of violence in Kut took place Friday night when police tried to enter two neighborhoods in Kut where there is a strong Mahdi Army presence. Clashes erupted and residents reported the sound of gunfire and explosions.
Sadrists have sought to distance themselves from the fighting. Luwaa Sumaisem, a senior aide to Sheik al-Sadr, denied members of the Mahdi Army were involved in Friday night’s clashes.
“Mahdi Army didn’t intervene in the clashes and everyone in their houses are following the order of Muqtada al-Sadr,” he said in the holy Shi’ite city of Najaf.
The United Nations envoy to Iraq, Staffan de Mistura, meanwhile said even though there had been an increase in violence in recent months, security was much better than when Iraq teetered on the brink of all-out sectarian civil war after the 2006 bombing of a Shi’ite shrine.
“In spite of this spike of horrific spectacular acts there is still a lot of improvement compared to the past, which should be interpreted by all of us and by the Iraqi political leaders as an opportunity,” Mr. de Mistura told reporters while releasing the latest U.N. Human Rights Report on Iraq.
Attacks across Iraq have fallen by 60 percent since last June, when a build-up of 30,000 extra U.S. troops was completed.
March 16, 2008
Pg. 5
By Jaafar al-Taie, Reuters News Agency
KUT, Iraq — Iraqi police arrested dozens of members of Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia yesterday, hours after two policemen were killed in gunbattles in the southern city of Kut, police said.
Clashes last week between Iraqi security forces and the militia in Kut, 105 miles southeast of Baghdad, have raised fears a cease-fire called by Sheik al-Sadr may unravel, although the violence has so far been confined to Kut.
It’s the first major violation of the seven-month-old truce, which has been credited by the U.S. military with helping reduce violence between majority Shi’ite and Sunni Muslims that has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis.
Sheik al-Sadr clarified the conditions of the truce last week, telling followers they could defend themselves if attacked — an apparent response to complaints among his fighters that U.S. and Iraqi forces were exploiting the cease-fire to target them.
“This operation started in the early morning and so far we have arrested 25 wanted people from the Mahdi Army,” said Lt. Aziz al-Amara, who commands a rapid reaction unit.
Another police official, who declined to be named, said 70 persons had been detained. There was a heavy presence of Iraqi and U.S. forces in the city. U.S. military spokesmen have given few details about their involvement in the clashes.
Police say at least 13 persons have been killed in fighting since Tuesday.
Separately, the U.S. military said eight Iraqi civilians were wounded late Friday in a rocket attack on a U.S. facility in Hillah, 60 miles south of Baghdad, which Iraqi police blamed on an unspecified Shi’ite militia.
The latest outbreak of violence in Kut took place Friday night when police tried to enter two neighborhoods in Kut where there is a strong Mahdi Army presence. Clashes erupted and residents reported the sound of gunfire and explosions.
Sadrists have sought to distance themselves from the fighting. Luwaa Sumaisem, a senior aide to Sheik al-Sadr, denied members of the Mahdi Army were involved in Friday night’s clashes.
“Mahdi Army didn’t intervene in the clashes and everyone in their houses are following the order of Muqtada al-Sadr,” he said in the holy Shi’ite city of Najaf.
The United Nations envoy to Iraq, Staffan de Mistura, meanwhile said even though there had been an increase in violence in recent months, security was much better than when Iraq teetered on the brink of all-out sectarian civil war after the 2006 bombing of a Shi’ite shrine.
“In spite of this spike of horrific spectacular acts there is still a lot of improvement compared to the past, which should be interpreted by all of us and by the Iraqi political leaders as an opportunity,” Mr. de Mistura told reporters while releasing the latest U.N. Human Rights Report on Iraq.
Attacks across Iraq have fallen by 60 percent since last June, when a build-up of 30,000 extra U.S. troops was completed.