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Shia factions clash in Iraqi cities
A new wave of confrontations has erupted in Iraq between supporters of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on the one hand and Iraqi police and other Shia factions on the other.
Fighting raged in Najaf and Baghdad on Wednesday, while unconfirmed reports suggested clashes in Basra too.
In Baghdad al-Sadr followers seized three offices of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) in Baghdad.
Heavy fighting broke out between the followers of the two rival parties in al-Habibiya near Sadr City, east of Baghdad.
"Five people were killed, some of them are followers of al-Sadr, and seven others were wounded in the clashes," said Saheb al-Amiri, general secretary of Shahid Allah (God's Martyr), an organisation linked to al-Sadr's movement.
Aljazeera quoted Jalil al-Nouri, information director at al-Sadr's office in Najaf, as saying that a number of people had been killed and injured in the clashes in the city between Iraqi police personnel and al-Sadr supporters.
Several explosions were also heard in Sadr City, while loudspeakers in local mosques announced that the Najaf clashes were the work of the Badr Organisation, formerly known as Badr Brigade the military wing of SCIRI, formed in Iran in 1982.
However, Hadi al-Amry, secretary-general of the Badr Organisation, denounced the attack on Najaf's al-Sadr Martyr Office and called for an investigation into the incident as well as for bringing the culprits, whoever they might be, to justice, according to Aljazeera.
Connection denied
Al-Amry said that the Badr Organisation had nothing to do with Wednesday's incident, and that it considered it an attack against its own offices.
Nevertheless, supporters of al-Sadr announced they were suspending their membership of the cabinet in protest against the Najaf attack.
Twenty-one lawmakers and one cabinet minister allied with al-Sadr will refuse to carry out their duties indefinitely, al-Sadr ally Fattah al-Sheik said on Wednesday.
Transport Minister Salam al-Maliki confirmed the move and said he had suspended his membership in the cabinet in protest against the burning of al-Sadr's office in Najaf.
The move could complicate efforts to convene parliament to vote on a new constitution and raises fears of internal conflicts among the Shia at a time when Sunni Arabs are outraged over the new draft constitution.
"We condemn the shameful attack on our office in Najaf and know it is the work of Badr Organisation, which came back to Iraq on American tanks," a member of al-Sadr's group announced at a local mosque in Sadr City.
Interior Minister Bayan Baker Solagh - a senior SCIRI member - confirmed the Najaf clashes and said that demonstrators "burnt down the office of al-Sadr's group".
Two uprisings
"There was a clash between demonstrators ... and defenders of the office," Solagh told the state-owned Iraqia television.
Al-Sadr launched two uprisings in 2004 against US forces from the Imam Ali shrine, in which hundreds of his supporters were killed.
Al-Sadr himself assumed a low profile following the uprising, reportedly going to study Koranic texts, while his militia was largely disarmed in a US-backed cash-for-weapons programme.
While much of the militia's heavy weaponry was handed over, most held on to their small arms.
Al-Sadr re-emerged on Iraq's tempestuous political scene in April, saying that the fight to get US troops out of the country was now purely political.
On Friday, thousands of his supporters marched in Baghdad in protest against federalism in Iraq's new constitution, which is due to be put to MPs on Thursday.
Prime Minister al-Jaafari, a Shia himself, appealed for calm in Iraq.
"I will send a group of my brothers to investigate (the situation) ... . I call upon the residents of Najaf to spread peace ... . We will not accept going back to arms" to settle issues, he said on the Iraqia network.
The clashes came just a few hours after at least 35 people were killed in clashes across central and northern Iraq.
Baghdad fighting
Heavy fighting broke out between dozens of Iraqi fighters and Iraqi police in western Baghdad, police and witnesses said.
Around 50 men armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades attacked a police station in al-Rabei street, west of Baghdad, in a show of force by fighters who do not recognise the US-backed Iraqi government.
Police said 10 civilians and three policemen were killed.
Iraqi police sent for back-up from the US army.
Aljazeera reported that 15 people, including three Iraqi policemen, were killed and 59 others injured in three attacks using booby-trapped cars driven by bombers that targeted Iraqi police patrols in western Baghdad's al-Jamaa neighbourhood.
A group of armed men launched an attack against a police station immediately after the three car bomb blasts, Aljazeera added.
Second attempt
In another incident, a deputy of the Iraqi justice minister, Yosha Ibrahim, escaped assassination, but four of his guards were killed and five wounded in an attack by armed men on his convoy in western Baghdad, police said.
It was the second attempt on his life in 48 hours.
Separately, four Iraqi people were killed and seven were wounded when fighters attacked their bus in Khalis, 75km north of Baquba.
Police said the dead were Shia Muslim pilgrims returning from a visit to holy shrines in Iran.
Mortar rounds
Four mortar rounds landed on a base used by the Iraqi police's Rapid Reaction Force in Baquba, 65km northeast of Baghdad, wounding seven.
Police said most of those wounded were recruits, but said a young girl and a child were also injured.
Aljazeera reported quoting the information director of the Association of Muslim Scholars, Muthana Harith al-Dhari, that US soldiers backed by Iraqi National Guard personnel raided the house of Shaikh Harith al-Dhari, the association's secretary-general, in Khan Dhari district.
The soldiers searched the building without causing any damage. Sheikh Harith al-Dhari was not in his home at the time of the raid, Aljazeera reported quoting Muthana.
On Tuesday, an Iraqi soldier was killed and another wounded when two mortars landed on a checkpoint at Musayyib, south of Baghdad, police said.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F8D19E4C-03F8-4E7B-AC97-887794CDBC91.htm
In Baghdad al-Sadr followers seized three offices of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) in Baghdad.
Heavy fighting broke out between the followers of the two rival parties in al-Habibiya near Sadr City, east of Baghdad.
"Five people were killed, some of them are followers of al-Sadr, and seven others were wounded in the clashes," said Saheb al-Amiri, general secretary of Shahid Allah (God's Martyr), an organisation linked to al-Sadr's movement.
Aljazeera quoted Jalil al-Nouri, information director at al-Sadr's office in Najaf, as saying that a number of people had been killed and injured in the clashes in the city between Iraqi police personnel and al-Sadr supporters.
Several explosions were also heard in Sadr City, while loudspeakers in local mosques announced that the Najaf clashes were the work of the Badr Organisation, formerly known as Badr Brigade the military wing of SCIRI, formed in Iran in 1982.
However, Hadi al-Amry, secretary-general of the Badr Organisation, denounced the attack on Najaf's al-Sadr Martyr Office and called for an investigation into the incident as well as for bringing the culprits, whoever they might be, to justice, according to Aljazeera.
Connection denied
Al-Amry said that the Badr Organisation had nothing to do with Wednesday's incident, and that it considered it an attack against its own offices.
Nevertheless, supporters of al-Sadr announced they were suspending their membership of the cabinet in protest against the Najaf attack.
Twenty-one lawmakers and one cabinet minister allied with al-Sadr will refuse to carry out their duties indefinitely, al-Sadr ally Fattah al-Sheik said on Wednesday.
Transport Minister Salam al-Maliki confirmed the move and said he had suspended his membership in the cabinet in protest against the burning of al-Sadr's office in Najaf.
The move could complicate efforts to convene parliament to vote on a new constitution and raises fears of internal conflicts among the Shia at a time when Sunni Arabs are outraged over the new draft constitution.
"We condemn the shameful attack on our office in Najaf and know it is the work of Badr Organisation, which came back to Iraq on American tanks," a member of al-Sadr's group announced at a local mosque in Sadr City.
Interior Minister Bayan Baker Solagh - a senior SCIRI member - confirmed the Najaf clashes and said that demonstrators "burnt down the office of al-Sadr's group".
Two uprisings
"There was a clash between demonstrators ... and defenders of the office," Solagh told the state-owned Iraqia television.
Al-Sadr launched two uprisings in 2004 against US forces from the Imam Ali shrine, in which hundreds of his supporters were killed.
Al-Sadr himself assumed a low profile following the uprising, reportedly going to study Koranic texts, while his militia was largely disarmed in a US-backed cash-for-weapons programme.
While much of the militia's heavy weaponry was handed over, most held on to their small arms.
Al-Sadr re-emerged on Iraq's tempestuous political scene in April, saying that the fight to get US troops out of the country was now purely political.
On Friday, thousands of his supporters marched in Baghdad in protest against federalism in Iraq's new constitution, which is due to be put to MPs on Thursday.
Prime Minister al-Jaafari, a Shia himself, appealed for calm in Iraq.
"I will send a group of my brothers to investigate (the situation) ... . I call upon the residents of Najaf to spread peace ... . We will not accept going back to arms" to settle issues, he said on the Iraqia network.
The clashes came just a few hours after at least 35 people were killed in clashes across central and northern Iraq.
Baghdad fighting
Heavy fighting broke out between dozens of Iraqi fighters and Iraqi police in western Baghdad, police and witnesses said.
Around 50 men armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades attacked a police station in al-Rabei street, west of Baghdad, in a show of force by fighters who do not recognise the US-backed Iraqi government.
Police said 10 civilians and three policemen were killed.
Iraqi police sent for back-up from the US army.
Aljazeera reported that 15 people, including three Iraqi policemen, were killed and 59 others injured in three attacks using booby-trapped cars driven by bombers that targeted Iraqi police patrols in western Baghdad's al-Jamaa neighbourhood.
A group of armed men launched an attack against a police station immediately after the three car bomb blasts, Aljazeera added.
Second attempt
In another incident, a deputy of the Iraqi justice minister, Yosha Ibrahim, escaped assassination, but four of his guards were killed and five wounded in an attack by armed men on his convoy in western Baghdad, police said.
It was the second attempt on his life in 48 hours.
Separately, four Iraqi people were killed and seven were wounded when fighters attacked their bus in Khalis, 75km north of Baquba.
Police said the dead were Shia Muslim pilgrims returning from a visit to holy shrines in Iran.
Mortar rounds
Four mortar rounds landed on a base used by the Iraqi police's Rapid Reaction Force in Baquba, 65km northeast of Baghdad, wounding seven.
Police said most of those wounded were recruits, but said a young girl and a child were also injured.
Aljazeera reported quoting the information director of the Association of Muslim Scholars, Muthana Harith al-Dhari, that US soldiers backed by Iraqi National Guard personnel raided the house of Shaikh Harith al-Dhari, the association's secretary-general, in Khan Dhari district.
The soldiers searched the building without causing any damage. Sheikh Harith al-Dhari was not in his home at the time of the raid, Aljazeera reported quoting Muthana.
On Tuesday, an Iraqi soldier was killed and another wounded when two mortars landed on a checkpoint at Musayyib, south of Baghdad, police said.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F8D19E4C-03F8-4E7B-AC97-887794CDBC91.htm
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As Shi'ite and Kurdish government leaders were set to push through a constitution Sadr fiercely opposes, his spokesman warned that his Mehdi Army militia could be quickly mobilised after fighting erupted with administration-linked Shi'ites.
Sadr, scion of a respected Shi'ite clerical dynasty who led two uprisings against US troops last year, has set a pattern of lengthy periods of silence followed by dramatic entrances.
Clashes in the holy city of Najaf, in Baghdad and elsewhere could offer Sadr an opportunity to reassert himself at a time of uncertainty, a skill he has mastered since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
He has reminded the US-backed government how quickly he can stir passions when thousands of his supporters protested against the draft constitution, stepping up pressure on Iraqi leaders exhausted after weeks of wrangling over the charter.
Capitalising on frustrations among Iraqis over hardships since the US-led invasion in March 2003, Sadr has won followers by speaking out for the poor and defying American military firepower.
FAMILY HERITAGE
Sadr, who was charged with murder in connection with the killing of a rival cleric in 2003 but has not been arrested, also relies on his heritage for some of his authority.
His father, Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, paid with his life for defying Saddam from within Iraq. He and two elder sons were murdered in 1999, probably by Saddam's agents.
Sadr's uncle, Mohammed Baqer, was also allegedly killed by Saddam in 1980 after calling for an Iranian-style Islamic republic.
A nervous Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari swiftly appeared live on television after the Najaf fighting, appealed for calm and paid tribute to Sadr's family.
Sadr has gained popularity by delivering fiery nationalistic speeches.
He has a wide following in Baghdad's Sadr City, a slum named after his father and home to many of his fighters armed with assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades.
Made up of ordinary Iraqis such as labourers, vegetable vendors and butchers, the Mehdi Army is a highly mobile force with members in Baghdad and the Shi'ite heartland in the south.
They carry posters of Sadr and his father and perform a war dance before confrontations.
Within days of Saddam's fall, Sadr, aged about 30, was seeking to rouse Iraq's long-oppressed Shi'ite majority against the US-led occupiers and their Iraqi allies.
When the former US-led administration in Iraq closed down his newspaper and arrested a key aide last year, the result was not capitulation, but a revolt.
Even Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has trodden warily around Sadr, refusing to condemn his actions despite the upset they caused among Shi'ite elders.
Sadr's militiamen recently took to the streets of the southern town of Samawa and stamped their authority after hundreds of protesters demanded the resignation of the governor, a supporter of a rival Shi'ite group, witnesses said.
Sadr denies involvement in the murder in Najaf in April 2003 of Abdul Majid al-Khoei, son of another late ayatollah. Khoei, who had close British and US ties, was hacked to death at Najaf's Imam Ali mosque days after returning from exile.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3389230a12,00.html
The followers of Sadr, known as the Medhi Army, attacked officesof the Badr Brigade in Sadr City, Al-Shaab and Al-Amel districts ofthe capital, the sources said.
The attacks followed clashes between the Mehdi Army and members of the Badr Brigade in Najaf, south of Baghdad, on Wednesday, Sadr's representative in Baghdad, Abdul Hadi al-Daraji told Xinhua.
Seven of Sadr's followers were killed and dozens were injured inthe clashes, said National Assembly member Bahra al-Alaji.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/25/content_3399319.htm
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Thursday, Aug. 25 - Fighting erupted Wednesday between followers of the rebellious Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr and his opponents in the holy city of Najaf, killing at least four people and wounding at least 20, officials said.
The fighting spurred members of Mr. Sadr's militia, the Mahdi Army, to storm the Baghdad offices of a competing Shiite party led by Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, officials said.
Clashes also broke out in Basra in the south between Sadr fighters and militiamen supporting a third Shiite religious group, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
Mr. Sadr's militia has been engaged in an intense and sometimes violent rivalry with Mr. Jaafari's party, Dawa, and with the Supreme Council.
Seeking to quell the Shiite violence less than a day before legislators are scheduled to vote on a draft constitution, Mr. Jaafari appeared on state-run television at 12:15 a.m. Thursday to appeal for calm.
"Peace must reign," he said, heavy bags of fatigue under his eyes. "This language of violence cannot be permitted in the new Iraq." He added: "The gun and the language of the gun are finished."
The clashes prompted a call for National Assembly members loyal to Mr. Sadr to boycott their legislative duties - he enjoys the support of a large minority of Shiite legislators. If they honor the call as early as Thursday, it could interfere with final negotiations on the draft constitution, which is supposed to be completed by midnight Thursday.
He led two bloody uprisings against American military forces last year and was accused of murdering a rival Shiite cleric the year before. But though the Americans extinguished both uprisings and drove Mr. Sadr underground, he was never disarmed.
After quelling the second rebellion, last August, American and Iraqi authorities, with the cooperation of Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, pressed Mr. Sadr to join the political mainstream, dominated by Dawa and the Supreme Council. In recent months Mr. Sadr, who draws much of his support from poor Shiites in Baghdad and southern Iraq, indicated that he planned to forgo violence and enter the political arena to help relieve sectarian tensions.
More
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/25/international/middleeast/25iraq.html
Supporters of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr clashed with rival Shias after Mr Sadr's men re-opened an office near the city's Imam Ali shrine.
Three pro-Sadr cabinet ministers and MPs are reported to have suspended their work in protest at the violence.
The clashes prompted an appeal for calm from Iraq's prime minister.
In a televised address, Ibrahim Jaafari condemned the attack on Mr Sadr's office, which was burned down in the clashes.
"Peace must reign. This language of violence and the gun cannot be permitted in the new Iraq," he said.
Mr Sadr's followers staged two revolts against US troops in 2004.
His office in Najaf had been closed down since his group agreed to a cease-fire last year.
'High alert'
In response, Mr Sadr's followers, known as the Mehdi Army, mobilised supporters elsewhere in Iraq, including Baghdad's Sadr City slum, a radical stronghold in the capital.
Mr Sadr's supporters blamed the clashes on a rival pro-government Badr militia.
A spokesman for the Mehdi Army said the militia had moved to a state of "high alert" after the violence.
A wave of reprisals were reported against Badr targets in Baghdad and in other Shia towns.
A representative of the Badr grouping, loyal to the largest Shia party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (Sciri), condemned the Najaf attack of Mr Sadr's offices.
The flare-up among Iraq's Shias comes as Sunni, Kurdish and Shia leaders continue to debate the shape of Iraq's draft constitution.
Iraq's Sunni Arab minority has threatened to reject any constitution if it does not address their concerns over Shia demands for federalism in the oil-rich south of Iraq.
Parliament is due to convene for a special session on Thursday to try and ratify a draft document.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4182230.stm
In Najaf, which had been one of Iraq's safest cities and was high on the list of places where U.S. forces could withdraw next year, as many as 24 people died in street fighting between al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia and a mixture of government forces and the Badr Organization Shiite militia.
The Iraqi government struggled late into the night to restore order, dispatching an elite force of police commandos to help overwhelmed local authorities and banning outsiders from entering the city.
After midnight, witnesses saw U.S. armored vehicles entering Najaf.
In Baghdad, at least two Cabinet ministers and several other politicians loyal to al-Sadr announced they'd stopped carrying out their government duties, and there were signs that unrest had spread to Sadr City, Baghdad's vast Shiite district where the Mahdi Army has a large following.
The sudden explosion of violence undercut U.S. and Iraqi government hopes that the new constitution would help curb the violence, and it renewed fears that Iraq's fledgling government may face armed opposition from Shiite as well as Sunni factions.
Earlier in the day, at least 15 people were killed and 59 wounded when suspected Sunni insurgents ambushed Iraqi security forces responding to a car bombing in the western Baghdad neighborhood of Hai al Jamea.
More than 30 rebels were involved in the ambush, unleashing a barrage of rocket-propelled grenades and machine-gun fire on the security forces, said Lt. Col. Hussein Jedouh of the Iraqi Interior Ministry. He said an Egyptian suspect was detained and seven other attackers were killed in the gun battle.
The outburst of Mahdi Army fighting in Najaf appeared unrelated to the ambush, but it came amid reports that al-Sadr, a longtime opponent of the U.S. presence in Iraq, had formed an unlikely alliance with Sunni clerics opposed to both the U.S. presence and the new constitution.
Both have called for a timetable for the withdrawal of American forces and have withheld support for the draft constitution, which Shiites and Kurds, the dominant groups in the government, presented on Monday over the objections of Sunni leaders.
"The constitution is lean and will lead to a fragmented Iraq," al Qubeisi said.
The fighting in Najaf on Wednesday was a continuation of a longstanding battle for control of the southern Shiite heartland between the Mahdi Army and the Badr Organization. The Badr Organization is closely allied with the Iraqi Interior Ministry and is the armed wing of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, one of the key political parties in the Shiite coalition that won January's elections.
Violence apparently broke out over the opening of an al-Sadr office in Najaf's Old City, which was devastated by last year's fighting. Dozens of protesters gathered outside the office to protest the opening. Authorities said the demonstration turned violent and the office was razed in the aftermath.
In written statements, al-Sadr said Badr rivals had set fire to his Najaf office, and he warned of retaliation.
"The Badr Organization is directly responsible for this aggression," Abdul Hadi al Darraji, an al-Sadr spokesman, said in televised remarks. "The Mahdi Army gave you the chance to practice your political role, hoping you would bring positive results, but you have not. We are issuing a general alert."
Outside the remains of al-Sadr's office, the cleric's lieutenants could be heard making phone calls to other Mahdi Army commanders, ordering the torching of Shiite political offices in other provinces "without killing anyone." Later that evening, Al-Jazeera satellite TV station reported arson attempts at Badr Organization posts in Baghdad.
An al-Sadr aide in Najaf told journalists that his leader demands the immediate dismissals of the governor and deputy governor of the province. The governor belongs to the Supreme Council, and his deputy is a Badr Organization member.
Abdul Hadi al Ameri, leader of the Badr Organization, acknowledged that Najaf officials were linked to his group, but he denied that they were involved in the blaze.
"I demand a quick investigation to find those who burned the office, why they burned it and who told them to do it," al Ameri said. "And why didn't police get involved and provide security to the office?"
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al Jaafari made a televised speech calling for calm and promising an investigation into the fire at al-Sadr's office.
"I call on all of noble citizens of Najaf ... to spread the banner of justice and tranquility among Najaf residents and throughout Iraq," al Jaafari said.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/12466371.htm
At least 15 people were killed and 59 wounded in the bombing and an ensuing gunbattle between security forces and nearly 40 heavily armed insurgents.
Five people were killed and seven wounded in clashes between followers of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr and locals in the southern holy city of Najaf, a source close to Sadr said.
Twenty-one lawmakers and three senior government officials allied with cleric Moqtada Al Sadr have refused to carry out duties indefinitely to protest an attack on their leader's office in Najaf, the cleric's followers said yesterday
Masked insurgents cornered a police patrol at a checkpoint in the western Al Ghazalia district, a mixed Shi'ite-Sunni neighbourhood, and attacked with machine-guns, rocket-propelled grenades and hand grenades.
The attack came a few minutes after the car bomber left a number of police vehicles and civilian cars completely gutted.
"Fifteen people were killed, including three policemen, and 59 others were wounded, of whom 13 are policemen," in the suicide car bombing and ensuing firefight, an interior ministry official said.
But the US military said that three car bombs had exploded in the attack, which was followed by one of the deadliest street battles in recent months.
Earlier Al Ghazalia district saw a group of masked gunmen ambush deputy justice minister Bosho Ibrahim's convoy near the Al Sharat underpass.
Ibrahim survived the assassination bid, but his four bodyguards were killed in the attack.
The attack was the second on Ibrahim in 24 hours.
In separate acts of violence across the war-torn country, rebels killed another 20 people.
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordered two battalions from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division to deploy to Iraq for 120 days to beef up security for the elections, the Pentagon said.
"This approved request temporarily adds an additional 1,500 active duty soldiers to the troop level in Iraq," the Pentagon said in a statement.
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=120351&Sn=WORL&IssueID=28158