To the barricades! Snapshot of
Iraq's civil war By Dahr Jamail
and Arkan Hamed
BAGHDAD - The new clashes
between Shi'ite militiamen dressed in Iraqi
military and police uniforms and resistance
fighters and residents from the Sunni Adhamiya
district of Baghdad have convinced many that what
Baghdad is witnessing is no less than a civil war.
For a long time, some leaders from both
the Shi'ite and the Sunni communities have been
trying to promote peace, but this has done little
to check the escalating sectarian violence that followed
the
February 22 bombing of the Shi'ite Golden Mosque
in Samarra.
Over several weeks before the
new clashes broke out on Monday and Tuesday this
week, Adhamiya residents had been barricading
streets with tires and the trunks of date-palm
trees to keep kidnappers and "death squads" away.
But clashes broke out about 12:30am on Monday
after a "police" raid on the area.
"We'd
had sporadic fighting for several nights before,
but nothing like this," a man who asked to be
referred to as Abu Aziz told Inter Press Service
(IPS). "My family and I thought a war had broken
out because so many heavy guns, mortars and rocket
propelled grenades were being used." Residents
said the attack was clearly carried out by Shi'ite
militia. IPS saw the sky over the area glow red
through the night, as US military helicopters
hovered above.
"I have seen these members
of the Badr militia and Mehdi Army wearing Iraqi
police uniforms and using police pickup trucks to
roam our streets," said Abu Aziz. "They tried to
reach our sacred Abu Hanifa Mosque, but they were
stopped before they could do so, thanks be to God.
Some were just wearing civilian clothes with black
face masks, others were definitely commandos from
the Ministry of Interior."
Last month
Minister of Interior Bayan Jabr told reporters,
"The death squads that we have captured are in the
Defense and Interior ministries. There are people
who have infiltrated the army and the interior."
The Badr Organization is the armed wing of the
Shi'ite Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in
Iraq, and the Mehdi Army is the militia of the
fiery Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Through the attack, in which scores of
"police" drove up to attack the district, at least
six police vehicles were burned, and at least one
of the Shi'ite militia members was killed, local
residents said. They also reported that at least
10 residents, including a woman, were killed in
the clashes. This round of fighting continued
until 12:30pm on Monday.
One resident
wrote to IPS to say: "Men in police uniforms
attacked the neighborhood. The Ministry of
Interior claimed the uniformed men don't belong to
the puppet [Iraqi government] forces, but local
residents are quite sure they are special forces
from the Ministry of Interior, probably Badr
brigades. The neighborhood was sealed off and the
mobile-phone network was disconnected until
10:45pm. Electricity was cut off from 10am."
Resistance fighters with sniper rifles,
Kalashnikov machine-guns and rocket-propelled
grenade launchers lined rooftops to thwart the
onslaught by the Shi'ite militiamen, he said.
"When the uniformed forces entered the
neighborhood, the National Guards that are usually
patrolling the streets left," his note said.
"Young armed men from the neighborhood fought side
by side with mujahideen against the attacking
forces to protect al-Adhamiya. Several residents
have been killed in the streets, but there are
currently no figures available. US troops also
entered the neighborhood. At first, they only
stood by and watched; later on they too fired at
the locals, who tried to repel the attacks."
No independent confirmation of the account
was available. Shi'ite groups officially deny they
have been attacking Sunni targets in the guise of
the regular army and police. And while the
minister of the interior acknowledged earlier that
these groups had infiltrated the police and army,
it is rarely possibly to obtain independent or
official views on every clash.
But US
forces were clearly involved in the fighting. The
Associated Press reported, "[US] Army officials
said they had suffered no casualties, and planned
to raid homes to search for the gunmen." Residents
said the US forces arrived to back up the Shi'ite
militiamen wearing Iraqi police uniforms and army
fatigues.
The US military spokesperson in
Baghdad did not respond to phone calls and e-mail
messages requesting comment on the clashes.
The clashes have continued. Scores of men
wearing white robes and carrying guns, in a manner
of suicide martyrs, arrived in Adhamiya on Tuesday
morning and moved to attack the Sunni Jalal
Mosque. Witnesses said the men fired at the
mosque, and this led to clashes that lasted until
1pm before the men were forced to retreat.
Other armed groups approached Adhamiya
from three directions, but were repelled before
they could reach the Abu Hanifa Mosque. Clashes
erupted near Al-Anbia Mosque. Fierce fighting also
broke out on one of the two main thoroughfares
into Adhamiya, Omar Abdul Aziz Avenue.
Tension has remained high in the area.
Just across the Tigris River from the Adhamiya
neighborhood is the predominantly Shi'ite
Khadimiya area. Sporadic gunfire was heard on
Tuesday across various locations in Adhamiya.
