Iraq Watch: March 3, 2006

Baghdad Car Ban Goes Into Effect

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A 6:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. vehicle ban went into effect Friday in Baghdad, quieting the oft-turbulent capital city, which has seen over a week of relentless sectarian violence and bloodshed following the February 22 bombing of the holy Shiite Askariya shrine, or "Golden Mosque," in Samarra.

Security forces and private militias set up security checkpoints as worshippers meandered to local mosques for traditional Friday prayers.

Many clerics urged unity between the two Muslim sects while others criticized the U.S.-led invasion for stirring up sectarian strife long suppressed under the dictatorial rule of former leader Saddam Hussein. Sunni cleric Ahmed Hassan al-Taha told his followers: "Iraqis were living in harmony until the occupiers and those who came with them arrived in this country. They are responsible for igniting sectarianism."

Hours before the intensive security measures were implemented militants assailed and destroyed a power station in Baghdad's Nahrawan suburb. An ensuing gunfight between the insurgents and Iraqi security forces left at least nine people dead and three injured.

Shortly after the sub-station attack guerillas stormed a brick factory in the nearby town of Maamil killing at least 10 Shiite laborers.

In the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk, six Iraqi police officers were killed in two separate attacks according to the New York Times. Four policemen were shot to death while leaving a police academy while the other two died in a roadside bombing.

In further violence Friday, one person was killed and another wounded when a mortar slammed into an outdoor market in Mahmoudiya while authorities discovered two executed bodies near Iskandariyah, south of the capital.