American attacks on Mehdi Army cause uproar among Shia
US forces in Iraq have launched a series of bloody attacks on Shia militia forces in and around Baghdad, killing or wounding 30 fighters and provoking widespread anger in the Shia community.
Iraqi government security forces, backed by the US troops and aircraft, moved into the vast Shia slum of al-Sadr City in eastern Baghdad at 3.15am yesterday in an attempt to arrest a commander of the Mehdi Army, the main Shia militia, called Abu Diraa. Iraqi police said nine people were killed including a woman. An Iraqi officer said the Americans had provided lists of people to be arrested in al-Sadr City.
The US army in Iraq is evidently starting a new confrontation with the Mehdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr, which now controls much of Baghdad. Its militiamen have grown in number over the last year as Shia civilians look for protection against Sunni assassins and death squads. “Muqtada is taking over the city,” said one Shia yesterday.
independent.co,uk
42 killed in sectarian massacre in Baghdad Sunni neighborhood
BAGHDAD (AFP) – At least 42 people have been killed by roving bands of masked gunmen who appeared to be targeting Sunnis in the Baghdad neighborhood of Jihad.
A security source said the gunmen were wearing civilian clothes but were masked.
Witnesses said black-clad gunmen they described as Shiite militiamen set up at least two checkpoints Sunday and began stopping vehicles, forcing people out of their cars and shooting them.
“They also went into certain Sunni houses and killed everyone inside,” said one witness who declined to be named.
The killings ended when US and Iraqi forces surrounded the area and began a search for the gunmen.
On Saturday night, a car bomb in front of a Shiite mosque wounded at least four people, while on Friday a car bomb explosion near a Sunni mosque in the same neighborhood killed two and wounded three.
Police Abuses in Iraq Detailed
BAGHDAD „ Brutality and corruption are rampant in Iraq’s police force, with abuses including the rape of female prisoners, the release of terrorism suspects in exchange for bribes, assassinations of police officers and participation in insurgent bombings, according to confidential Iraqi government documents detailing more than 400 police corruption investigations.
A recent assessment by State Department police training contractors echoes the investigative documents, concluding that strong paramilitary and insurgent influences within the force and endemic corruption have undermined public confidence in the government.
Officers also have beaten prisoners to death, been involved in kidnapping rings, sold thousands of stolen and forged Iraqi passports and passed along vital information to insurgents, the Iraqi documents allege.