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| Iraq |
| Iraq PM Warns of Sectarian War as 176 Killed |
| 2013-04-26 |
| [An Nahar] Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki warned on Thursday of a return to "sectarian civil war," with 176 people killed in three days of violence and troops surrounding a town held by gunnies. Maliki urged ordinary Iraqis "to take the initiative, and not be silent about those who want to take the country back to sectarian civil war," in remarks broadcast on state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe? The violence began on Tuesday when security forces moved in against anti-government protesters near the Sunni Moslem town of Hawijah in northern Iraq, sparking festivities that left 53 people dead. A wave of subsequent unrest, much but not all of it apparently Dire Revenge™ attacks for the Hawijah festivities, killed dozens more people, and brought the toll by Thursday to 169 dead and 280 maimed. The protest-related violence is the deadliest so far linked to demonstrations that erupted in Sunni areas of the Shiite-majority country more than four months ago. The protesters have called for the resignation of Maliki, a Shiite, and railed against authorities for allegedly targeting their community, including with what they say are wrongful detentions and anti-terrorism charges. On Thursday, attacks in Fallujah, ... the City of Mosques, which might have somthing to do with why it's not called Center of Prosperityor a really nice place to raise your kids... west of Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... , killed two Sahwa anti-Qaeda militiamen, two federal coppers, and maimed two more, a police captain and a doctor said. And a roadside kaboom against an army patrol in Jurf al-Sakhr, south of Storied Baghdad, killed two soldiers, according to a police officer and a doctor. The toll from heavy fighting on Wednesday in the northern city of djinn-infested Mosul also rose, with officers and a doctor saying a further 31 gunnies and four police were killed, bringing the total to 40. Meanwhile, ...back at the precinct house, Sergeant Maloney wasn't buying it. It was just too pat. The whole thing smelled phony, kind of like a dead mackeral but without the scales... the army deployed reinforcements around Sulaiman Bek, and was preparing to retake the Salaheddin provincial town, a day after it was seized by a group of unidentified gunnies, officials said. The gunnies swarmed into the predominantly Turkmen Sunni town after deadly fighting with the security forces, who pulled back in the face of the offensive as residents fled. "We withdrew tactically so we can work on clearing the area completely, after we knew that the residents had left," a high-ranking army officer told Agence La Belle France Presse. "We will clean the region corner by corner, and we will not allow any attack against the safety of citizens," the officer said. Local official Shalal Abdul Baban said gunnies were still in complete control of the town but that the army was deploying reinforcements on its outskirts. |
| Posted by:Fred |