Iraq Watch: December 23, 2005

Demonstrators March Against Vote as Violence Swells and U.S. Announces Planned Troop Reductions

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Tens of thousands of Iraqis marched in protest of the nations parliamentary elections Friday following traditional mid-afternoon prayers. Demonstrators chanted slogans chastising the "rigged" and "fraudulent" balloting with some demanding a re-vote.

Preliminary electoral results, announced earlier in the week, showed the conservative Shiite bloc, the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), wrangling nearly 59% of the votes in Iraq's largest electoral district - Baghdad province. Iraqis appeared to vote on largely on sectarian lines with secular political blocs like Ayad Allawi's Iraqi National List (INL) and Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress (INC) having poor showings. Final voting tabulations are not expected to be released until early January.

Although Friday's anti-election demonstrations were largely peaceful, violence struck other parts of the war-torn nation. Insurgents launched a well-coordinated attack on an Iraqi army outpost 45 miles north of the capital near Adhaim. The assault began in the early-morning hours Friday when militants launched a mortar barrage on the area's main base. While attention was diverted, the insurgents attacked the outlying post with automatic fire and rocket-propelled grenades killing at least 10 soldiers and wounding an additional 20. The operation was claimed by the militant group al-Qaida in Iraq.

Near Adhaim, in the town of Balad Ruz, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a Shiite mosque killing at least 10 worshippers. Elsewhere, in Baqouba, the executed bodies of three civilians were discovered. The bodies were found blindfolded and bound in the southern part of the volatile city.

Meanwhile, a Sudanese Foreign Ministry official announced that six Sudanese nationals, including diplomat Abdel Moneam Mohammad Tom, were abducted Friday in Baghdad. The six were kidnapped as the left prayers at a local mosque. Insurgents have frequently abducted and executed foreign officials in an effort to deter governments from developing diplomatic relationships with Iraq.

Also Friday, the U.S. military announced that two U.S. soldiers, assigned to Task Force Baghdad, were killed Friday when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device, or IED.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, speaking in the former rebel-stronghold of Fallujah, announced the decision to not deploy two U.S. brigades (1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division and 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division) to Iraq. The decision affect's nearly 7,000 U.S. soldiers and will bring the total number of U.S. forces serving in the Iraqi combat theater to approximately 138,000 by early next year.