Iraq Watch: February 27, 2006

Sunnis Agree to Rejoin Government Talks

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Sunni leaders announced on Monday that they have agreed to end their self-imposed boycott and rejoin talks regarding the nations fledgling political process. "We haven't ended our suspension completely but we are on the way to end it," senior Sunni Adnan al-Dulaimi told the AP.

Sunni political blocs, including al-Sulaimi's Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), decided to boycott the political arena in protest of reprisal attacks against Sunni worshippers and mosques following last Wednesday's bombing of the holy Shiite Askariya shrine in Samarra.

Baghdad's citywide daytime curfew, meanwhile, was lifted Monday allowing Iraqis to once again venture outside and commute to work. Iraqi tanks were positioned throughout the capital city in an effort to deter would-be attackers.

In ongoing sectarian bloodshed Monday, a mortar barrage in western Baghdad's predominately Shiite Shula district killed at least four people and injured 16 more.

Later Monday, four people died when a roadside bomb planted near a Sunni mosque in the New Baghdad area exploded. The bomb, which detonated shortly after evening prayers, also wounded 15.

Also in the capital, the executed bodies of four people were discovered in the notorious Dora neighborhood of southern Baghdad.

In other violence Monday, four people were shot to death in two separate incidents in Baqouba, located 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.

The Washington Post, citing Iraqi morgue officials, reports that over 1,300 people have been killed in sectarian related violence since Wednesday's mausoleum bombing.

Elsewhere, in Nahrawan, Iraqi security forces and insurgents engaged in a firefight which left some eight Iraqi police dead and six injured according to Reuters. Five militants were killed in the gun battle southeast of the capital while 25 others were reportedly apprehended. CNN reports that the battle ensued after guerillas attempted to overtake an area police station.

Meanwhile, Iraqi authorities announced Monday that Interior Ministry forces have captured a suspected senior al-Qaida in Iraq militant. Abu al-Farouq, a Syrian, was detained in a raid near al-Bakr, west of Ramadi. The previously unknown al-Farouq was said to be in charge of planning attacks and financing insurgent groups in the Ramadi area.

Iraq Watch: February 24, 2006

Clerics Seek Unity as Curfew Extended

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi Shiite Muslim clerics spoke of unity on Friday in sermons at mosques around the country as Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite himself, announced that a daytime curfew would be extended into Saturday.

Firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr urged his followers to practice restraint, a call echoed by other Shiite clerics Friday. In his weekly sermon in Sadr City, a Shiite slum located in eastern Baghdad, he told onlookers "Anyone who attacks a Muslim is not a Muslim." Al-Sdar's militia, known as the Mahdi army, were dispatched around the country to protect Shiite mosques and worshippers.

In many Sunni mosques, however, the tone was much more malign. In the Jihad neighborhood of western Baghdad clerics, speaking through mosque loudspeakers, told their congregation "The government knew about plans to attack Sunni mosques. But only the occupiers are benefiting from such chaos," according to Knight Ridder.

Top Shiite political leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, head of the powerful Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), said that the perpetrators of Tuesday's 'Golden Mosque' attack "do not represent the Sunnis in Iraq."

Despite the extensive security measures, sporadic violence was reported around the country. In Samarra, where the bombing of the shrine took place, at least two Iraqi policemen were killed in a roadside bombing while an Iraqi soldier died in a checkpoint attack in the capital. Also, at least 27 executed bodies were found around the war-torn nation.

The ordinarily bustling capital city of Baghdad was unusually quiet due to the curfew's ban on all civilian vehicles. Major thoroughfares throughout the city, home to nearly six million, were all but deserted except for the occasional security roadblock. The curfew is in affect for volatile mixed provinces such as Baghdad, Salaheddin, Diyala, and Babil.

Iraq Watch: February 23, 2006

Sectarian Attacks Intensify Following Mosque Bombing

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Reprisal attacks stemming from yesterday's bombing of the sacred Askariya shrine in Samarra intensified on Thursday leaving over 110 Iraqis dead.

Enraged Iraqi Shiites have taken to the streets in droves attacking at least 168 Sunni mosques throughout the country. According to the Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS) some 10 Sunni clerics have been assassinated and another 15 abducted since yesterday's blast at the ancient "Golden Mosque."

In Nahrawan, located in the religiously-mixed Diyala province, at least 47 executed bodies were found in a ditch after apparently being stopped by militants who had set up an impromptu roadblock in an industrial area of the city, northeast of the capital.

An additional 23 bodies were found scattered around six different locations in the capital city of Baghdad.

Also, in Baqouba, a bomb aimed at an Iraqi army patrol killed at least 16 people, including eight soldiers. 20 Iraqis were reported wounded in the early-afternoon blast. The militant group al-Qaida in Iraq, now incorporated in the recently created Mujahideen Shura Council, claimed responsibility for the attack.

In an effort to defuse the growing animosity between the two Muslim sects, Iraq's Kurdish President Jalal Talabani held an emergency meeting Thursday in Baghdad.

The country's leading Sunni political group, however, refused to attend in protest over the rash of reprisal attacks targeting Sunnis. The Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), which garnered 44 seats in Iraq's December parliamentary elections, announced that it would cease all talks with Shiite and Kurdish groups until an apology is received. Leading Sunni politician Dr. Salman al-Jumaili stated: "We want a clear condemnation from the government which didn't do enough yesterday to curb those angry mobs." Dr. al-Jumaili went on further saying "There was even a kind of cooperation with the government security forces in some places in attacking the Sunni mosques."

Maverick Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on members of his militia, the Mahdi army, to protect Shiite institutions across the country. "Brothers in the Mahdi Army must protect all Shiite shrines and mosques, especially in Samarra," al-Sadr said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced the deaths of seven U.S. service members on Thursday. Four U.S. soldiers were killed yesterday after their vehicle was struck by an IED near Hawijah while three soldiers, assigned to Task Force Band of Brothers, died in a separate roadside bomb attack Wednesday northeast of Balad.

Elsewhere, the bodies of three Iraqi journalists working for the Arab satellite channel Al-Arabiya were found dumped six miles northeast of Samarra. The three, which included the well-known female correspondent Atwar Bahjat, were reporting on the mosque bombing when they were abducted.

Iraq Watch: February 22, 2006

Bomb Targets Samarra Shrine; Reprisal Attacks Ensue

BAGHDAD, Iraq - In an attack apparently aimed at increasing sectarian strife militants on Wednesday, disguised in Iraqi police uniforms, made their way into the historic Askariya shrine in Samarra placed two bombs under the mosque's famous golden dome and detonated them shortly before 7:00 a.m. The blasts left the dome of the religiously significant structure in shambles infuriating Shiites throughout the Muslim world.

The shrine is considered to be one of Shiite Islam's holiest sites. The 10th and 11th Shiite imams, Ali al-Hadi and Hassan al-Askari, are buried underneath the structure. The site also marks the spot where the 12th Shiite imam, Mohammed al-Mahdi, or the "hidden imam", disappeared in 878 AD. Shiites believe that the 12th imam will one day reappear and establish Islam throughout the world.

The mausoleum was originally constructed during the 10th and 11 centuries. The golden dome, comprised of over 72,000 individual golden pieces, was added to the structure in 1905. The shrine serves as a place of pilgrimage for thousands of Shiite Muslims every year.

As word of the shrine attack spread in an already tense sectarian atmosphere, thousands of Shiites throughout Iraq began taking to the streets in protest. Demonstrations erupted in Shiite cities throughout the country. Protesting was reported at the site of the attack in Samarra, south to Baghdad, and further south into the Shiite heartland.

Despite pleas from leading Shiite figures, such as the revered Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, to refrain from revenge attacks, at least 90 Sunni mosques have been assaulted according to the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP). In addition, at least seven Sunnis - including three clerics - have been killed in reprisal violence throughout the day.

In the largely Shiite city of Basra, home to over two and a half million, Shiite militiamen stormed a prison, dragged 12 Sunni prisoners out and executed them. The inmates killed included seven foreigners. Shiite militiamen also attacked Sunnis instillations throughout the Basra sparking running gun battles. The aforementioned Iraqi Islamic Party's Basra offices were said to be on fire following one such attack. Elsewhere in the city, on the banks of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, Shiites burned a Sunni shrine containing the tomb of Talha bin Obeid-Allah, a seventh century companion of the Prophet Muhammad.

In other violence Wednesday, two Iraqi police officers were gunned down in Baqouba while a roadside bomb killed two schoolchildren in Kut, southeast of the capital. In Muqdadiyah, north of Baghdad, an assassination attempt on a judge left him seriously injured and four of his bodyguards dead.

Iraq Watch: February 21, 2006

Car Bomb Rocks Capital City

BAGHDAD, Iraq - In one of the deadliest attacks in recent weeks a car bomb exploded near an outdoor Shiite marketplace in the volatile Dora neighborhood of southwestern Baghdad. The blast, which occurred around 4:45 p.m. killed at least 22 civilians and injured at least 28 others.

Also in the capital Tuesday, two police commandos died and four other people, including three policemen, were wounded in a roadside bombing in southern Baghdad.

Northeast of the capital, in Baqouba, insurgents bombed at least eight hair salons. No causalities were reported but heavy damage to the shops' infrastructure was inflicted. Many extremists consider female hair salons and beauty parlors to be fronts for brothels or bordellos. Also in Baqouba, one person was killed and three wounded when militants attacked three area liquor stores. Alcohol is considered haram, or forbidden, by the vast majority of Muslims.

Elsewhere, near Beiji - an industrial city located southwest of Kirkuk - guerillas attacked a major oil refinery killing five guards and abducting plant official Faris Abdul Nabi according to the Washington Post.

In another development, the spokesman for the Sunni National Dialogue Council, Saad Jarallah, was found Tuesday in a Baghdad morgue after reportedly being abducted Friday. Jarallah's killing only increased the already high sectarian tension plaguing the war-torn nation. Khalaf al-Ilyan, the head of the prominent political party said, "After this incident, there is no way for Iraqis but to protect themselves and confront every aggressor."

Responding to comments made yesterday by American ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, Iraqi President Ibrahim al-Jaafari on Tuesday lashed out at the U.S. power broker in Iraq. Speaking at a press conference in Baghdad al-Jaafari stated, "When someone asks us whether we want a sectarian government the answer is 'no we do not want a sectarian government' - not because the U.S. ambassador says so or issues a warning." The Shiite al-Jaafari went on to say, "We do not need anybody to remind us, thank you."

Iraq Watch: February 17, 2006

Wealthy Banker Kidnapped in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Ghalib Abdul Hussein Kubba, the director-general of the Basra International Bank, was abducted along with his son from their residence in Baghdad's western upscale Yarmouk neighborhood late Thursday according to authorities. The attackers, dressed in Iraqi special forces uniforms, killed five of the businessman's personal guards during the abduction. The slain guards were left outside in front of the house, each with a single bullet in the head.

Kubba, considered to be one of the wealthiest people in Iraq, has been a well-known and prominent figure in Shiite-dominated southern Iraq for years. He served as head of Basra's chamber of commerce for nearly a decade during the Saddam Hussein reign.

In further violence, gunmen killed two employees of a fashion accessories store in the capital's Maalif district while a cigarette salesman was gunned down in a drive-by shooting in Husseiniyah, located about 20 miles north of Baghdad.

South of the capital in Youssifiyah, an Iraqi policeman died and two were injured in a roadside bombing. Yousifiya is situated in the volatile, religiously mixed area commonly known as the "Triangle of Death."

Also Friday, police discovered the executed bodies of at least six unidentified men in two separate locations in Baghdad. The bodies, which bore signs of torture, were found bound and shot to death. The gruesome find comes a day after Iraq's Interior Ministry, led by Bayan Jabr, announced that it would launch an investigation into accusations that autonomous "death squads" operate within the predominately-Shiite ministry.

Three more civilians were found hanged from a bridge in the restive city of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad.

Elsewhere, insurgents destroyed a crucial oil pipeline linking the northern oil fields near Kirkuk to a refinery in the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Dora. The blast which damaged the line took place near Taji.

Iraq Watch: February 14, 2006

Violence Swells Throughout Country; Basra Severs Ties with Britain

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Bloodshed that has plagued the nation of Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, aimed at toppling former strongman Saddam Hussein, continued unabated Tuesday with farm workers, coalition forces, and the Iraqi army all being targeted by militants.

In another development, the Basra Provincial Council announced that it has decided to sever all ties with the British military based in the area. The council's decision was in response to the release of a violent video on Sunday depicting British forces attacking protesting Iraqis. The video, first released by the British tabloid News of the World, was purportedly filmed by a British colonel during a January 10, 2004 protest by Iraqi citizens, angry over the lack of employment opportunities, in the southern city of Amarah, located in bordering Maysan province.

In Balad, a religiously mixed city 50 miles north of the capital, gunmen opened fire on a group of Shiite farm workers killing 11, including the farms' owner Sheik Hussein al-Hayali, and injuring two. The shooting occurred shortly before midday.

Meanwhile, two separate attacks in western Baghdad left one U.S. Marine dead and six coalition soldiers wounded. The first attack, near the Abu Ghraib area, took place around 10:30 a.m. when a roadside bomb exploded as a U.S. military convoy was passing by. The second guerilla attack occurred about an hour later when militants in Baghdad's Salaam district set off an IED and quickly followed the blast with small-arms fire.

Also in Baghdad, Iraqi police discovered the executed bodies of eight men scattered throughout the city of nearly six million. All the victims were found shot to death.

Elsewhere, north of the capital, an Iraqi army major was assassinated along with his son near Taji while a contractor working with the Iraqi army was gunned down in Tikrit.

Iraq Watch: February 13, 2006

Attacks Kill Over 20 as Hussein Trial Resumes

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide bomber attacked a group of Iraqis waiting in line to receive government payments in compensation for shorted food rations outside of an eastern Baghdad bank. The bomber detonated his explosive payload while bank security guards were frisking those waiting.

The blast killed at least ten people and wounded over 40, including three children.

Meanwhile, inside Baghdad's heavily secured 'Green Zone', located in the heart of the Iraqi capital, the trial of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants resumed Monday. As has become customary, Saddam and the other co-defendants, especially Saddam's half brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, lashed out at the trials newly installed Kurdish chief judge, Raouf Abdel-Rahman.

Hussein and the other defendants, on trial for their alleged roles in a 1982 massacre of over 140 Shiites from Dujail following an assassination attempt against the former president, were forced to attend Monday's legal proceedings after threatening to boycott the rest of the landmark trial. As Hussein was entering the courtroom he shouted, "Down with Bush." Later Saddam scolded the chief judge saying "Degradation and shame upon you, Raouf." In another outburst the former Iraqi leader berated the investigating judges calling them "homosexuals."

In other violence Monday, a roadside bomb killed two Iraqi police and injured another in Iskandariyah, 30 miles south of Baghdad while a police colonel was assassinated while driving to work in Ramadi. Another Iraqi police colonel was slain by gunmen Monday in Baghdad's southern Dora district.

Additionally, four Iraqi policemen, traveling in a civilian car, were ambushed and killed near the northern, industrial city of Beiji.

Northeast of the capital, five members of the Shiite political group, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), were gunned down in the restive city of Baqouba.

Iraq Watch: February 10, 2006

Mosque Bombed; Poll Results Released

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Only hours after the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) officially released the December 15 parliamentary election results a car bomb exploded outside a Sunni mosque in Baghdad's southern Dora district.

The remotely detonated car bomb, which was parked only yards from the Iskan al-Shaabi mosque, killed at least eight worshippers and injured dozens more. Approximately an hour after the explosion, as onlookers amassed at the scene, a carload of masked gunmen opened fire leaving another person dead and two more wounded.

Meanwhile, two U.S. Marines, assigned to the II MEF, died from wounds sustained in an IED attack yesterday near the former rebel-stronghold of Fallujah, the U.S. military announced Friday.

In another purported sectarian attack, armed men dressed in Iraqi police uniforms stormed the Baghdad residence of Sunni cleric Adel Khalil Dawoud late Thursday night and abducted him. Dawoud, iman of the Nuaimi mosque, had only recently returned to the Iraqi capital from Jordan after have fled there to escape the raging sectarian violence that has befallen the war-torn nation.

Friday's disclosing of the election results was all but a formality. However, now that the election results are officially certified, the newly elected 275-seat Iraqi assembly must meet within the course of 15 days in order to begin hashing out plans for a new government.

As expected, the conservative Shiite bloc, the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), garnered the most seats (128) on the Iraqi parliament. Sunni Arab groups received 58 spots while Kurdish parties finished a close third by grabbing 53 seats.

Secular groups had a disappointing showing in December's election, although, former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's Iraqi National List (INL) will have 25 representatives when parliament convenes.

In other violence Friday, two Iraqi policemen and an Iraqi soldier were slain in three separate shootings in the restive city of Baqouba, located about 40 miles north of the capital.

Iraq Watch: February 6, 2006

Sporadic Violence Continues as Shiites Prepare for Ashoura

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A series of bombings and shootings across Iraq on Monday left over a dozen people dead as Shiites prepared for the Ashoura festival - a commemorative celebration honoring the death of seventh century Shiite saint and grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, Iman Hussein - which reaches its climax Thursday.

Two Iraqi policemen were shot dead near the northern, oil-rich city of Kirkuk while a former military intelligence official was assassinated in western Baghdad.

In the capital's southern Abu Dashir neighborhood police discovered the executed bodies of two Sunni Arabs who were reportedly abducted from their home late Sunday by members of the Iraqi Interior Ministry. The discovery of the two men, who were found with their legs and hands bound, is likely to inflame already high sectarian tensions.

To the south, in Basra, gunmen killed an Iraqi man working as an interpreter for the British military.

Iraq's majority Shiites, meanwhile, were preparing for the annual Ashoura festival, which reaches its peak on the tenth day of Muharram, the first month in Islam's lunar calendar.

The death of Iman Hussein in 680 AD, whom Shiites consider the successor to the Prophet Mohammed, marks the split in Islam between the Sunnis and the Shiites. During Ashoura thousands of Shiites make the pilgrimage to the holy shrine, which bears the revered iman's name, in Karbala, Iraq where it is believed Hussein is buried. During the procession many of the participants flagellate themselves as a show of honor and sacrifice towards Hussein.

Security is extremely tight in Karbala following two years of Ashoura attacks that have left over 230 pilgrims dead. Extremist Sunni groups such as al-Qaida in Iraq have launched repeated attacks against Shiite civilians who they view as heretics and collaborators.

Late Monday, in the town of Abu Sidaa, located about 50 miles northwest of Baghdad, gunmen attacked a Shiite family partaking in rituals accompanying Ashoura wounding at least six including three women and a small child.

Iraq Watch: February 2, 2006

Dual Bombings Rock Baghdad; Five U.S. Soldiers Killed

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two bombings some 20 minutes apart shook eastern Baghdad Thursday evening leaving at least 11 Iraqis dead and scores more wounded.

The first bomb detonated near a gas station sparking a large fire. The blast killed at least two and injured 13. Plumes of thick, black smoke could be seen rising into Baghdad's early-evening skyline as a result of the explosion.

The second explosion, believed to have been the work of a suicide car bomber, struck an outdoor market in the capital's al-Amin neighborhood. Nine people were slain and an additional 57 were wounded in the car bombing.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced the deaths of five U.S. service members Thursday. Three MND Baghdad soldiers were killed yesterday in a roadside bombing south of Baghdad while another MND Baghdad soldier died from wounds sustained in a small-arms fire attack. Separately, a II MEF Marine was killed by small-arms fire yesterday while conducting combat operations near the former insurgent stronghold city of Fallujah.

Elsewhere, a U.S. helicopter launched a barrage of rockets after apparently taking ground fire in the Shiite slum district of Sadr City, located in eastern Baghdad. The rockets killed one woman and injured two more, including a two-year-old child, angering many area residents. The area is a stronghold of support for maverick Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and has been witness to two uprisings staged by the young cleric over the course of the occupation. Recently, however, the area has remained relatively quiet and free of violence after al-Sadr decided to join the Iraqi political process.

Sadr City residents denounced the rocket attack. Falah Hassan Shanshal, a Shiite lawmaker and supporter of al-Sadr said the attack was an attempt to "draw the Sadr movement into a new fight to affect our participation in the political process."

Also near the impoverished Shiite slum named after Muqtada's later father, a shepherd discovered the executed bodies of 16 unidentified men dressed in civilian clothes. The men, who bore signs of torture, were found bound and blindfolded.

In other violence Thursday, a roadside bomb in the capital's eastern Ghazaliyah neighborhood killed three Iraqi soldiers while an Iraqi police major and his driver were assassinated by gunmen in the southern city of Basra.

Iraq Watch: February 1, 2006

Baghdad Bomber Targets Workers; Sunnis Threaten Uprising

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A bomb targeting day laborers in the capital's eastern New Baghdad district killed at least eight and wounded over 50. The bomb, which police say was hidden in a satchel and placed next to a food stand, detonated amidst a crowd of men looking for work at around 7:00 a.m. this morning near the Sunni al-Samaraei mosque.

Meanwhile, Sunni political leader Tariq al-Hashimi of the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) threatened a "mass civilian uprising" unless a series of demands were not met. Among the demands made by al-Hashimi were an end to "random arrests," the immediate release of all prisoners held at government-run facilities, and the resignation of current Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr. The IIP's leader stated that, "The government and the occupation forces have a chance to respond to these demands, but they should not take a long time."

Shortly after al-Hashimi's fiery press conference, two Iraqi journalists from the privately-owned Samaria TV station, Marwan Ghazal and Reem Zaeed, were abducted by at least six gunmen in two cars outside of the party's western Baghdad office.

In other violence throughout the war-ravaged country, two Iraqi soldiers were killed in a mortar attack in Tal Afar while authorities discovered three executed bodies in southern Baghdad.

Elsewhere, in yet another attack on Iraq's oil industry, a bomb tore through an oil pipeline near the southern city of Hilla on Wednesday. The blast severed a line linking to a major power station causing thousands in southern Iraq to loose their electricity.