Iraq Watch: November 25, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - In a sign of the ever-increasing sectarian strife in Iraq a little-known militant group calling itself the 'Partisans of the Sunni' claimed responsibility for a car bombing yesterday in Hillah which killed at least 11 Iraqis and injured 17 more. The group said the attack was in response to Wednesday's early-morning assassination of prominent Sunni sheik Khadim Sarhid al-Hemaiyem near Baghdad.

The organizations communiqué stated, "We have warned the (Shiites) to stop assassinations and detentions and torture," the statement posted Friday said. "You should know, your blood is no more dear than ours. You kill our men, we kill yours. You kill our sheiks, we kill yours. You started this war."

Meanwhile, a U.S. soldier, assigned to Task Force Baghdad, was killed yesterday in a tank accident south of the capital the U.S. military announced Friday.

Speculation continued to swirl Friday regarding the prospect that some Iraqi insurgent groups may be ready to lay down their arms and join the nations budding political process. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's national security advisor, Lt. Gen. Wafiq al-Samarraie, again reiterated Friday that he has been receiving calls from purported representatives of various militant groups about the possibility of discourse. He has, thus far, refused to name the groups who have contacted him or any demands the militant groups may have made. Yesterday, the AP, citing unnamed residents of the volatile Anbar province, reported that at least four insurgent groups were in meetings to discuss nominating a possible spokesperson to represent the groups.

However, all four of the insurgent groups (the Islamic Army of Iraq, the 1920 Revolution Brigade, the Mujahedeen Army, and al-Jamea Brigades) mentioned in the AP article, on Tuesday, issued a joint-statement strongly rejecting any idea of discourse between insurgents and the current Iraqi government saying that the Baghdad-based government is "illegitimate" and "contradicts principles of Islamic Law," or Sharia.

The Iraqi government in recent moths has made attempts to reach out to the 'nationalistic' branch of the current insurgency, like the four aforementioned militant groups, in an attempt to coax them into joining the Iraqi political process and to isolate the foreign-dominated Iraqi insurgent groups such as al-Qaida in Iraq and Ansar al-Sunnah.