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| Iraq |
| Iraq heading back to old days of insecurity? |
| 2009-03-29 |
| Violent fighting has erupted between Iraqi government forces and Awakening Council neighborhood guards in a Sunni area in Baghdad. At least 15 people were wounded in the Saturday clashes and three people were killed. This is while the guards captured five Iraqi soldiers. Baghdad security spokesman Qassim al-Moussawi said the firefight with the guards, started after Iraqi forces arrested the Awakening Council leader, Adil al-Mashhadani, and at least one of his men, on terror-related charges in the central district of al-Fadhil. "They had a judicial warrant," Moussawi said, adding that seven Iraqi soldiers had been wounded in the clashes. Al-Sahwa or Awakening members are mostly former Sunni insurgents who fought US and Iraqi forces after the 2003 US-led invasion of the country, but helped curb violence since late 2006 when they sided with the Iraqi government to battle al-Qaeda following its harsh rhetoric and attacks against Iraqi civilians. Meanwhile, a Reuter's reporter said that he had heard heavy gunfire near the scene and saw Iraqi army snipers on roofs all around the neighborhood. He said Iraqi forces had ringed the area but the streets were largely controlled by the Sunni Arab fighters. An Iraqi interior ministry source said US forces were close to the disrupted area for back-up. The Awakening Council and their members have been credited with drastically cutting violence after they switched sides, routing radical Sunnis out of Baghdad and troubled provinces such as Anbar, but deep mistrust remains between them and Iraq's Shia-led government. Reuters reported a guard who witnessed the battle as saying "What happened to Mashhadani was just revenge. Now it is obvious to us that the government is insincere in its talk of reconciliation. After this, we can't trust anyone anymore." US officials have said a dangerous situation could arise should Maliki's government fail to bring about reconciliation with the former Sunni Arab fighters. However, they say that Iraq has the right to detain those accused of grave charges in the past, such as murder or terrorism. Over the past week, Iraq's capital city Baghdad has seen a rise in violence. On Thursday, a bomb blast north of Baghdad led to the death of 24 civilians and the injury of 44 others. A booby-trapped car went off after midday near a bus stop in a crowded marketplace in Baghdad's Shia district of Shaab, causing the incident. Most of the victims were women and children. Two separate suicide attacks in the capital this month have killed as many as 70 civilians. |
| Posted by:Fred |