DIWANIYAH: Iraq’s hard-pressed security forces fought fierce street battles with Shia militia fighters in the central town of Diwaniyah on Monday, amid a massive surge in violence across the country. Defence Ministry spokesman Mohammed Al Askari said that 20 soldiers and 50 militiamen had been killed in the fighting, which began on Sunday. The head of Diwaniyah’s Health Department, Hamid Taathi, said hospitals had received bodies of 19 soldiers and seven civilians after two days of clashes, while 43 people had been treated for injuries. A security official in Baghdad said several soldiers had been “executed” after being captured by militiamen, and government forces had lost control of some city districts. He said that around 10 militiamen had been killed in the clashes, and security forces were setting up a cordon around Diwaniyah after “rogue elements of the Mahdi Army” seized complete control of two neighbourhoods. “The militia has set up its own checkpoints and there are improvised explosive devices everywhere. Diwaniyah is too hot right now, but the Iraqi army is working to stop more militia arriving in the area,” he added. An Iraqi Army Captain in Diwaniyah said, “We have also asked for more troops from other provinces because a big military operation has been planned.”
Large numbers of Iraqi Army soldiers arrived in the area, and surrounded the Nahda and Jimhuriyah neighbourhoods, which are apparently in the hands of militiamen. The Mahdi Army is a loosely organised force nominally loyal to Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr, whose movement has ministers in Iraq’s coalition government. Local leaders from Diwaniyah said the militiamen were “rogue elements and had earlier rejected a call from Sadr for them to put aside their weapons to take part in Iraq’s political process”.
“What is going on is an attempt by the government to get rid of an element which is trying to disturb the security of the town,” said Abdumunaam Abu Tibikh of the provincial council of Qadisiyah. A senior Sadr supporter in the nearby holy Shia city of Najaf, Sahab Al Ameri, also disowned the fighters. He blamed “infiltrators” for carrying out the killings. He nonetheless accused US “occupation forces” of provoking the fighting.
The battle in Diwaniyah came as a suicide car bomber attacked the Interior Ministry in Baghdad, killing 14 people and injuring 45. The bomber struck as Interior Minister Jawad Bolani was to hold a meeting with police chiefs, capping a torrid 24 hours of carnage in which more than 60 Iraqis and eight American soldiers had already been killed. An official said eight police commandos were among the people killed when the bomber detonated explosives near a checkpoint outside the Interior MinistryÂ’s tightly guarded compound.
The blast and the carnage in Diwaniyah were the latest blow to Prime Minister Nuri Al MalikiÂ’s campaign to the world that his government and security forces were up to the task of restoring order in Iraq. On Sunday, eight US soldiers were killed as a result of a series of insurgent attacks in and around Baghdad, the US military announced. In the deadliest single incident, four soldiers died when their vehicle was hit by a bomb north of Baghdad, the military said on Monday. Another soldier was killed in a roadside bombing in west Baghdad, the military said, and another later died of wounds sustained in the attack. A sixth soldier died in a similar attack south of the capital. The military had already announced on Sunday the death of another soldier killed in east Baghdad.