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Iraq

Suicide blasts kill 19 in Iraq, including Iranians

2013-06-08

[DEMOCRATHERALD] checkpoint west of Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... , killing 19 people in all, in the latest bout of violence to rattle Iraq. The attacks follow the deadliest two months in Iraq in half a decade, raising fears the country is descending into a renewed wave of widespread killing like the one that drove the nation to the brink of civil war following the U.S.-led invasion. Friday's first attack struck in the morning, when a jacket wallah drove his explosives-laden car into a bus carrying Iranian Shiite pilgrims who were on their way to visit shrines in the holy city of Najaf. The attack took place near the town of Muqdadiyah, about 90 kilometers (60 miles) north of Storied Baghdad. Police said 11 pilgrims were killed and 31 other people were maimed in the blast. Since the 2003 invasion, foreign pilgrims from Iran and other countries have poured into Najaf, whose Imam Ali shrine is one of the holiest sites for Shiite Mohammedans. In the evening, attackers drove two more boom-mobiles into a major highway checkpoint between the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi in the Sunni-dominated Anbar province west of Storied Baghdad, detonating them nearly simultaneously. Four coppers and four civilians died in that attack, according to police. Medical officials confirmed the causality figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to news hounds. Iraq has been ravaged by a spike in violence in recent weeks, with recent monthly corpse counts rising to levels not seen since 2008. According to the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... , at least 1,045 Iraqi civilians and security personnel were killed in May. The tally surpassed April's 712 killed. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Friday's attacks, but Sunni bully boyz frequently target the Shiite-led government's security forces and Shiite pilgrims, who they believe are not true Mohammedans. The attacks came a day after a series of boom-mobile kabooms in and around Storied Baghdad killed 14 people.

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Iraq

Top Shiite clerics in Iraq silent on Iran unrest

2009-07-04

[Beirut Daily Star: Region] There is no place outside Iran that has closer links to Tehran's ruling establishment than Iraq's holy Shiite city of Najaf, where the silence during Iran's post-election crisis says much about the deep complexities of their cross-border bonds. "Simply put, the whole affair does not concern Najaf," said Sheikh Ali al-Najafi, son of and spokesman for Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Bashir al-Najafi, one of the city's four top Shiite clerics. "We will not interfere in the internal affairs of a dear, next door neighbor." The four - who include Iranian-born Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani - have remained quiet on the upheavals in Iran since the disputed presidential election June 12. The reasons have to do with both religion and politics. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, father of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, lived here in exile for 16 years. Najaf also is the world's oldest and foremost seat of Shiite learning, and the Imam Ali shrine attracts hundreds of thousands of Iranian visitors every year. A short distance away from his shrine lives Sistani, who came to Iraq more than 50 years ago but has retained Iranian citizenship. Despite the deep ties between the clerical establishments in Najaf and Iran, there are important differences. The Najaf strain of Shiite teaching emphasizes that top clerics should be background figures - though influential - on most political affairs. They did not speak out even during the crackdowns on Shiites by Saddam Hussein's regime in the 1990s. Nor have they spoken publicly about US accusations that Iran has been aiding Shiite militias in Iraq as part of indirect pressure on American forces and the US-backed government in Baghdad. Iran's Islamic system, by contrast, bestows all main powers on the non-elected Shiite theocracy. There had been expectations that the top Najaf clerics could break their traditions and publicly comment on the unrest - appealing for calm or even coming to the defense of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, following the protests over claims that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election was rigged. But any sign of interference in Iran's affairs by the Najaf clerics, particularly Sistani, could prove costly at a time when many Iraqis fear that Iran will try to broaden its influence in their country as the Americans reduce their military presence.

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Iraq

Fear and dread in Iraq’s holy city of Najaf

2008-04-20

Muqtada Sadr’s clash with the Iraqi government could spark violence in the center of the Shiite faith in the country, whose mainstream clerics view him as an upstart. The repercussions could be widespread. NAJAF, IRAQ -- Clerics and politicians speak in hushed tones about the names drawn up for assassination. Guards stand outside their compounds clutching assault rifles, and handguns rest on desks. No one can be trusted. All sides fear that dark times are coming to Najaf, the spiritual capital of Iraq's Shiite Muslims. "The situation is mysterious," said Sheik Ali Najafi, the son and confidant of Grand Ayatollah Bashir Hussain Najafi, one of the four senior most Shiite clerics in Iraq, who guide the country's majority faith and counsel its politicians. Like elder statesmen, the four have found themselves ensnared in the conflict between the Shiite-led Iraqi government and an upstart young cleric, son of a revered grand ayatollah: Muqtada Sadr. The poisonous atmosphere of treachery and paranoia has consequences far beyond the alleyways of this ancient shrine city. Najaf may hold the key to Iraq's stability; if it descends into violence, the entire Shiite south will almost certainly follow suit. U.S. forces will be stretched, the chances of a troop drawdown diminished. The Shiite parties involved will probably look to Iran to broker an end to the crisis. And chances for real political process will be on hold. On Saturday night, the fears of a broader Shiite conflict loomed larger after Sadr threatened all-out war against the government if it did not halt military operations against his followers in Baghdad and the southern port of Basra. Like Basra, with its oil, whoever controls Najaf will play a major role in charting Iraq's future. It is here Shiite politicians come for guidance from the grand ayatollahs. It is here the populist Sadr first challenged Iraq's conservative religious establishment. "Najaf is the kitchen, where major decisions are cooked," said Salah Obeidi, Sadr's official spokesman. Obeidi works out of a barren room in a closed-down restaurant and hotel. Bodyguards sit in the lobby, decorated with a mural of Sadr and long-haired Shiite saints gazing austerely at Najaf's roads. Obeidi confesses he has been in crisis mode lately. "We are afraid the situation from now till October won't be stable for the Sadrists," Obeidi said. "Najaf is very important." The city's rewards are huge for Sadr and his competitors: lucrative revenues from the pilgrims who flock here, and the chance to spread one's influence among the faithful. Every year, millions of pilgrims come to Najaf to pray at the Imam Ali Mosque, the tomb of the prophet Muhammad's son-in-law. It was over the question of Ali's succession that the Shiite sect emerged. Believers from across Iraq bury their dead in Najaf's cemetery, named the Valley of Peace. Aspiring clerics flock here to study at the revered hawza, a loose network of illustrious seminaries, rivaled only by Qom in Iran. "Muqtada would covet the kind of Shiites Najaf holds," said Vali Nasr, an expert on Shiite Islam at Tufts University. "Sadr is popular politically, the grand ayatollahs religiously. There is a tense standoff between them. They both hold power and popularity, and that is what makes the situation so tense and volatile." Najaf's merchant elite and clergy have long viewed Sadr as a rabble rouser, able to mobilize the Shiite slums and rural masses for violence. No one in Najaf has forgotten April 2003, when Saddam Hussein fell and Sadr emerged from house arrest to lay claim to his dead father's mantle. That month, Abdel Majid Khoei, the son of another late grand ayatollah, returned from London and was attacked by a mob inside the Imam Ali shrine, dying of his injuries near Sadr's office. Then, in the summer of 2004, Sadr seized the shrine as part of his open revolt against the Americans. The ensuing battle battered the city's cemetery and neighborhoods. Even now, shattered buildings dot the landscape. During that uprising, the country's preeminent cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, intervened, offering Sadr's Mahdi Army safe passage from the Imam Ali shrine as a way of ending a monthlong confrontation with the U.S. military. This time, the grand ayatollahs have declined to aid the incendiary cleric. Three days into the Basra campaign, Grand Ayatollah Najafi issued a fatwa, or religious opinion or edict, that declared the Iraqi government as the only force in the country with the right to bear arms. His son, Sheik Ali Najafi, left little doubt that the clergy had backed the Iraqi army operations. "We see this as a positive improvement. . . . The people want the government to control the streets and the law to be enforced. No other groups," he said, sitting in his study, furnished with cushions, a laptop and a clock bearing his father's portrait. Their stance is a gamble. An influential cleric who is knowledgeable about talks between the Sadr movement and the grand ayatollahs described the situation in bleak terms: The government is weak, and Sadr aides now acknowledge privately that they have lost control of members who are receiving support from Iran. "There are groups in the Mahdi Army who are kidnapping, killing and stealing. They don't listen to Muqtada. They are openly operating with Iranian interests," he said. The cleric asked that his name not be used because he feared assassination. Everywhere, he saw Iran's influence. "In the beginning, it was Arab countries playing a negative role. Now after Qaeda has fallen, it is Iran. Iran wants to control Iraq, and change the hawza from Najaf to Qom." Sadr's loyalists are also fearful. The tensions between their mass movement and Najaf's mainstream clergy are evident on the plaza of the Imam Ali tomb, where a yellow-brick building with a marble base rose two years ago. It is a museum for Sadr's father, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq Sadr, who was killed during Hussein's rule. A black banner flutters from the building for Riyadh Noori, a senior Sadr aide who was killed April 11 by gunmen waiting outside his house on a quiet suburban street here. Twenty to 30 young men stand outside in the evening air and study the worshipers heading to the shrine. People avert their eyes. On a recent night, two gaunt men with scraggly beards hobbled into a Sadr office on crutches, one of them missing a leg, blown off fighting the Americans during Sadr's 2004 uprising. The pair waited to meet Haidar Fakhrildeen, a lawmaker loyal to Sadr. Fakhrildeen's cellphone rang, playing a speech from Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah about resistance and sacrifice. A black pistol sat on his desk. Like Obeidi, he said the movement expected more killings. Fakhrildeen spoke with a deep mistrust of the Americans and his Shiite political rivals: "Assassinations will happen because of the elections." The 6-foot-tall lawmaker also has to worry about Mahdi Army fighters co-opted by Tehran. "Iran interferes in everything," he said. "It was able to control a handful of fighters to use them to serve their interests." In the meantime, life goes on in Najaf's ancient bazaar. Merchants cut black and brown fabric for clerics' robes. Families buy deep red pomegranate juice and ice cream for daughters in party dresses. But bazaar owners believe the calm might be fleeting. A bookseller, whose merchandise includes writings by Sistani and Sadr's father, frowned. "The quiet will not continue. There will be disorder," he said confidentially between visits from customers who flipped through his books, with their pictures of the dour-faced clerics. He was sure the turbulence would pass: "After this unrest, there will be permanent stability."

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Iraq

Iran Ordered Muqtada al-Sadr to Return to Al-Najaf - Iraqi Sources

2008-04-14

London, Asharq Al-Awsat- The situation in the city of Al-Najaf has intensified following Friday's assassination of the brother-in-law of Muqtada al-Sadr by unidentified gunmen and while the authorities imposed a curfew in the city for fear of acts of violence, Al-Sadr called on the government "to carry out a fair investigation" of the assassination of Riyad al-Nuri, the director of his office, after the Friday prayers. On its part, the Iraqi Government condemned the assassination and Al-Sadr Trend Spokesman Salah al-Ubaydi said "Muqtada al-Sadr asked the government to carry out a fair investigation and reveal the parties behind the incident." Unidentified gunmen assassinated Riyad al-Nuri, the director of Al-Sadr's office and his brother-in-law, near his house in Al-Najaf, only two days after Al-Sadr's arrival in the city after having left the Iranian city of Qom "secretly" on the orders of the Iranian authorities, according to statements made by authoritative Iraqi sources in Qom and Al-Najaf to Asharq Al-Awsat. These sources said Al-Nuri led exactly five years ago an armed attack on the moderate Shiite cleric Abdul-Majid al-Khoei, the secretary general of the Imam al-Khoei Foundation, inside Al-Haydariyah shrine. al-Khoei and Haydar al-Rufayi, the official in charge of the administration of the Imam Ali shrine, were killed in the attack which took place only one day after the collapse of former regime. The Iraqi sources in Qom and Al-Najaf asserted that the Iranian authorities informed Al-Sadr of the need to leave their territories because of the security problems he had caused in Iraq following the armed clashes between the pro-Al-Sadr "Al-Mahdi Army" militia and Iraqi forces in Basra, Baghdad, Al-Diwaniyah, Karbala, and Al-Kut. They added that moderate officials in Iran denounced Al-Sadr's presence in their territories saying that this was causing problems with the Iraqi Government and that "affects the course of relations between Tehran and Baghdad." Iraqi sources in Al-Najaf said Al-Sadr "arrived from Qom the night before yesterday and stayed at the house of one of his aides, where his supporters were banned from reaching him, after being forced to stay for six months in an isolated house on the outskirts of the Iranian city of Qom." An Iranian official last week denied that Al-Sadr was in Iranbut Ali al-Adib, a leading member of Al-Da'wah Party told Asharq Al-Awsat that he met him in Qom less than a week ago. In other news, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh vowed on Sunday that Iraqi forces will battle militiamen in Sadr City relentlessly until the sprawling Shiite district of east Baghdad has been cleared of gunmen. "We will continue until we secure Sadr City. We will not come out, we will not give up until the people of Sadr City have a normal life," Dabbagh told AFP. "(The security forces) will do what they have to do to secure the area. I can't tell you how many days or how many months but they will not come out until they have secured Sadr City." Raging battles between US and Iraqi forces and Mahdi Army militiamen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have killed around 80 people in the impoverished township since Sunday last week, and the army has warned the streets are littered with booby-traps laid by gunmen.

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Iraq

Shia Mahdi sect using Star of David!

2007-06-03

On January 28th, the Iraqi government announced that it had eradicated a heavily armed cult that was in the final stages of planning to storm the Shi’ite holy city of Najaf, attack the Imam Ali shrine and kill top Shi’ite clerics along with pilgrims commemorating the holy day of Ashura. The cultists, who called themselves Jund al-Samaa’, or Soldiers of Heaven, fought ferociously and managed to shoot down an American helicopter before they were overwhelmed and surrounded in their encampment, amid palm groves in Zarga north of Najaf. Iraqi police said the fighters tapped into their radio frequency during the fighting, repeating the menacing message, “Imam Mahdi is coming.” The Imam Mahdi, a messiah-like figure in Shi’ite Islam, was the 12th imam and descendant of the Prophet Mohammed. Shi’ite scriptures say the Mahdi disappeared into a cellar in Samarra, Iraq, during the ninth century. His return to “fill the earth with justice and equity, after it has been filled with oppression and tyranny” is a basic tenet of Shi’ite faith and it also signals the end of days. Dhiaa Abdul Zahra al-Gar'awi, the leader of cult who was killed in the battle, claimed he was the Mahdi. The details about Jund al-Samaa’ remain murky, but the ill-fated Gar'awi was not the last to make such a claim. There is a new emerging movement in southern Iraq called the Ansar al-Imam al-Mahdi. Its leader, Ahmed al-Hassan, says he is the son and the herald of the Mahdi - or al-Yemani, as he is known in Shi’ite literature. Al-Hassan's Background Very little is known about al-Hassan. He moved to Najaf to receive religious training after he received his Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Basrah University during the late nineties. He immediately collided with senior ayatollahs when he called for reforms in the religious seminary, which he described as being rife with financial corruption and mediocre scholastic curricula, earning him the backing of disgruntled clerics and students. When Saddam Hussein had the Quran written with his blood, al-Hassan publicly called it “a work of the devil,” prompting authorities to chase him out of Najaf. Al-Hassan made use of the chaotic environment following the US invasion in 2003 to preach for his movement and gain followers. He remained under the radar, but his followers said he was placed under house arrest by the Iraqi government in Basrah last year, and many of his followers have been detained in several southern cities. Al-Hassan’s name first appeared in the news during the Zarga battle four months ago. In a series of contradictory official statements on what happened that day, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh first said the slain cult leader was al-Hassan. Al-Hassan’s office in Basrah was quick to issue a statement the next day denying any link to Jund al-Samaa’, stressing that their movement is a peaceful one. “The state-run media was so forceful that day, that even some of our followers believed the battle was with the Ansar,” said Ahmed Jabir, a senior aide to al-Hassan in Basrah. Ansar al-Imam al-Mahdi is just one of several Shi’ite millenarian movements that have proliferated in southern Iraq, such as that of Ayatollah Mahmud al-Sarkhi in Karbala whose followers have been detained by local Iraqi troops loyal to the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), Iraq’s leading Shi’ite political party. Groups that preach the imminent return of the Mahdi are called Mahdawiya, and the clerical establishment in Najaf, headed by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, does not look favorably on them. Most are influenced by the teachings of the late Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, the father of Muqtada al-Sadr. “Shi’ite millenarianism is widely present, but most Shi’ite thinkers put it in the distant future,” says Juan Cole, a professor of Middle Eastern history at the University of Michigan; “more sectarian leaders say it is just around the corner. Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr seems to have been more the latter.” Relations with Other Shi'ite Groups Mocked and reviled by leading Shi’ite clerics in Najaf and regarded a heretic, al-Hassan says they have given orders for him to be detained or killed. Iraqi forces have closed down several offices and places of worship that the movement runs in Baghdad, Basrah, Amara, Karbala and Najaf. “Members of SCIRI requested permission from representatives of senior clerics to fight our movement,” al-Hassan told IraqSlogger in an exclusive email interview. “Days later, the oppressive authorities attacked and detained some of the Ansar in Najaf and closed our bureau and husseiniya.” Both SCIRI and Sistani’s bureau have declined to comment on the accusations. Al-Hassan says he is constantly moving because he fears the government is seeking to detain him following the events of Zarga last January. Sources close to the office of Grand Ayatollah Kazem al-Haeri in Basrah said that he has issued a fatwa authorizing the killing of al-Hassan if he does not recant his claims. Sistani’s office in Najaf distributed fliers two months ago warning Shi’ite pilgrims from imposters claiming to be “messengers of the Imam Mahdi.” Two other senior Shi’ite ayatollahs, Sheikh Bashir al-Najafi and Sheikh Ishaq al-Fayyadh, also released statements stating that anyone declaring representation of the awaited Imam is a “slanderous liar.” Armed followers of Ayatollah al-Sarkhi attacked his main headquarters in Basrah weeks ago, and the Iranian al-Kawthar satellite channel recently dedicated a series of programs to discredit al-Hassan and his followers. Ahmed Jabir says the movement’s website is blocked in Iran, and the authorities there are also cracking down on their supporters. “I had good relations with senior clerics in the Hawza, but now most of them are calling for detaining or killing me,” said al-Hassan. The Ansar are not known to have taken up arms yet. “Our movement is mostly ideological, to raise awareness in the Ummah,” says Jabir. “We are, however, in a defensive position against any possible attack by the government.” Al-Hassan said he has ordered his followers to lay low and move to other parts of the country to avoid a clash with authorities. According to the Institute of War and Peace Reporting, sources from the Najaf provincial council said the campaign against unorthodox Mahdawiya groups has more to do with competition between rival Shi’ite militias struggling to control the oil-rich south. Star of David as Symbol of Movement Although similar Mahdawiya movements were not met with much success, Ahmed Jabir says al-Hassan’s movement has attracted several thousand followers in Iraq, some of them from the opposite Sunni sect, and even some Christians. Al-Hassan claims to have followers in Iran, Lebanon, the Gulf, Pakistan, Egypt, Morocco, and even among Shi’ite communities in Europe and North America, who help fund the group through donations. The group’s website on the Internet (http//www.almahdyoon.org) is gaining increased attention. “To his Excellency, the Deputy of the Savior,” wrote Emmanuel Raphael, a Coptic Christian priest in Egypt, to al-Hassan, “I have a sealed letter to you, written 322 years ago by Bishop Sarkhis Micha the Baptist, which I have failed to unravel, but the name of your Excellency is very clear in the letter.” Al-Hassan uses the Star of David as a symbol for his movement, a controversial step that has brought him accusations of links to Zionist and Rightwing Christian groups by his detractors. “It is the choice of God,” he explained. “David was a prophet sent by God, and we are the heirs of prophets.” And, indeed, al-Hassan says he is preaching not just to a Shi’ite Muslim audience, but also to all of mankind. “I tell the Christian nation in American and the West,” he said, “heed the words of Christ (peace be upon him): ‘When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak.’ (John 16:13) I am the messenger that complements God’s prophets. If you are searching for the truth, for here the truth has come.”

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Iraq

35 killed in Najaf suicide blast

2006-08-11

NAJAF: At least 51 people were killed across Iraq on Thursday. A suicide bomber killed at least 35 people and wounded over 90 on Thursday near a Shia shrine in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf, dealing a blow to fresh efforts to avert a sectarian civil war. Hospital sources said the bomber blew himself at a police commando checkpoint on his way to the Imam Ali shrine, one of the most revered sites in the world for Shia and an annual destination for thousands of pilgrims. Dr Riyadh al-Shibli said 35 were killed and 94 wounded. Shia al-Forat television channel said there were two attacks, including the suicide blast, in the city which is home to Iraq’s top Shia clerics. “Suddenly my cart and the cans and the people were flying through the air,” said Moussa Khadhan, a 37 year-old street vendor, who was nearby at the time. The blast ripped through the checkpoint as the United States boosted its troop levels in Baghdad, some 160 km to the north, in another attempt to ease communal bloodshed tearing the capital apart. Ambulances drove through the streets of Najaf appealing for blood donations as the scale of carnage became clear and the number of injured rose. Television pictures showed the body of a child being laid besides other bloodied corpses on a patch of ground beside a hospital. The dead, marked with numbered white labels on their foreheads for identification, included both police and civilians, police and hospital sources said. Meanwhile, at least 13 people were killed across Baghdad on Thursday as US and Iraqi security forces began executing the new phase of a security plan for the capital. Insurgents ambushed and killed the head of a national police brigade and six officers while they were carrying out a raid in the flashpoint neighbourhood of Al-Maalif in southwest Baghdad, medics and a defence official said. “Seven, including the colonel, were killed in the battle,” a Defence Ministry official said, adding that the officers had been ambushed by insurgents during a raid intended to seize a major weapons cache.In another incident not far from Al-Maalif, six people were killed when a bomb exploded in a busy restaurant in Baghdad’s Saydiyah neighbourhood, an Interior Ministry official said.

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Iraq

Iraq’s Sadr blames US for Najaf bombing

2006-04-07

KUFA, Iraq - Radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Friday blamed US-led coalition forces for the rampant violence across Iraq, including the deadly car bombing in the holy city of Najaf a day before. “This is not the first time that the occupation forces and their death squads have resorted to killings,” the cleric said during the weekly prayers at the mosque of Kufa, the twin city of Najaf. He was referring to Thursday’s car bombing in Najaf. Ten people were killed and 42 wounded when a car bomb exploded close to the revered Imam Ali shrine in the heart of Najaf and near Sadr’s offices and those of top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani. The bomb went off in the parking lot near the entrance of the Wadi Salam (Valley of Peace) cemetery, forcing authorities to impose an immediate curfew in a bid to stem any outbreak of sectarian violence. Sadr also blamed the coalition forces for the sectarian strife, charging that “they are killing religious Shiite clerics in order to start a sectarian strife”. US ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad was particularly targeted by Sadr in his sermon. “His (Khalilzad’s) presence in all the political meetings is a clear intervention of the US in Iraqi affairs,” Sadr said. He also suggested a plan for a phased withdrawal of US forces from Iraq. “To begin with they should exit the cities and take positions outside the cities and hand over security for the cities to the Iraqi forces,” said the firebrand cleric. In August 2004, Sadr led a bloody revolt against US forces in which hundreds of his Mehdi Army militiamen were killed. He has since adopted a political role and is one of the main supporters of incumbent Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari.

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Iraq

Car bomb kills 13 in Iraq

2006-04-07

A car bomb has exploded in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf, killing at least 13 people and wounding about 40 others. Police said the blast occurred on Thursday between an ancient cemetery and the Imam Ali shrine, one of the most sacred Shia sites. The mosque was not damaged. "When the black Opel car exploded, I could only see human flesh flying in the air," said Mahmoud Mohsin, 38, a drinks seller, who was being treated in hospital for head wounds. Hospital officials said the bomb killed 13 people and wounded about 40 others, but police put the death toll at 15. A Reuters correspondent saw 10 bodies and body parts on the ground. Najaf is 160km south of Baghdad. In February, the bombing of another Shia shrine in the town of Samarra touched off reprisals and pushed Iraq to the edge of a full-blown sectarian conflict. And they're still trying, aren't they?

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Iraq

18 Reported Killed in Iraq Mosque Clash

2006-03-26

Sadr trying to stir up violence against US troops. Police and a top aide to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said Sunday that 18 people were killed in a clash involving U.S. and Iraqi army forces at a mosque in eastern Baghdad. The U.S. military said it had no information on the reported violence. The announcement came hours after a mortar round slammed to earth near al-Sadr's home in the Shiite holy city of Najaf. The popular anti-American cleric home but was not hurt, an aide said. Iraqi authorities also said late Sunday that U.S. forces raided an Interior Ministry building and arrested 40 policemen after discovering 17 non-Iraqi prisoners in the facility. Interior is Shiite territory and they've been running death squads pretty openly Police 1st Lt. Thayer Mahmoud said the arrested police were being held for investigation, but the reason was not known. Mahmoud said the U.S. forces remained at the building and were guarding the 17 foreigners. Abdul-Zahra al-Suaidi, head of al-Sadr's office in Baghdad, said U.S. forces and Iraqi soldiers opened fire at the al-Moustafa Shiite mosque in the Ur neighborhood, killing 18 people in what he called an unprovoked attack. Separately, Iraqi police Lt. Hassan Hmoud said 18 people were killed in the mosque. He said he had no other details. U.S. Sgt. 1st Class Keith Robinson, a spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division that has responsibility for Baghdad, said late Sunday his office had no information on the reported mosque clash. Greg Fazho, a spokesman for the U.S. command, also said the press center had not received any "releasable information" about any incident in that area. "We're still trying to find out what is going on," he said. A child and at least one guard were wounded in the mortar attack earlier Sunday that hit some 165 feet from al-Sadr's home, according to police and al-Sadr aide Sheik Sahib al-Amiri. Iraqi troops sealed the area and the cleric's Mahdi Army militia surrounded the home after the attack, al-Amiri said. Al-Sadr lives near the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf, about 90 miles south of Baghdad. Shortly after the attack, the cleric issued a statement calling for calm. "I call upon all brothers to stay calm, and I call upon Iraqi army to protect the pilgrims as the Nawasib (militants) are aiming to attack Shiites everyday," he said ahead of Wednesday's commemoration marking the death of the Prophet Muhammad. Najaf police chief called the assault a "cowardly attack" by those still loyal to Saddam Hussein aimed at dividing the Iraqi people. "But this will not happen," Maj. Gen. Abbas Mi'adal told reporters near al-Sadr's home. "We are ready to confront any terrorist schemes and protect the pilgrims." At least 10 Iraqis were killed in violence elsewhere, including a 13-year-old boy killed by a bomb as he walked to school in the southern city of Basra. Police also found 11 handcuffed and bullet-riddled bodies dumped in Baghdad and two in the city of Baqouba. The Iraqi army said it also had dispatched troops to investigate a report of 30 beheaded corpses in a village north of Baghdad, but the soldiers turned back before reaching the site, apparently fearing an insurgent ambush. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, meanwhile, said the U.S. could withdraw a significant number of troops from Iraq this year if Iraqi forces are able to assume greater control of the country's security. "I think it's entirely probable that we will see a significant drawdown of American forces over the next year. ... It's all dependent on events on the ground," the chief American diplomat said Sunday, echoing military commanders. Just this past week, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld declined to predict when U.S. forces would be out of Iraq. President Bush has said that decision would be up to a future U.S. president and a future Iraqi government. Rice, on NBC's "Meet the Press," noted that Gen. George Casey, the top commander in Iraq, "has talked about a significant reduction of American forces over the next year. And that significant reduction is because Iraqi forces are taking and holding territory now." There were conflicting reports about Sunday's attack in Najaf, which came a day after the cleric's Mahdi Army militia forces battled with Sunni insurgents near Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of the capital. Seven people — most civilians killed in their homes by mortar fire — died in the gunbattle and several others were wounded. Al-Sadr's aide said two mortar rounds fell near the home Sunday, wounding two guards and the child, while the police chief said it was just one mortar round that wounded one guard and the child. Al-Sadr, who routinely blames the United States for the violence that has beset the country, said American troops were trying to drag Iraqis into "sectarian wars." "I call upon my brothers not to be trapped by the Westerners' plots," he said. Be trapped by mine instead!

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Iraq

Tater vs. Badr- May the toughest Shiite win

2005-11-02

rom the November 02, 2005 edition - Shiite power struggle simmers in Najaf In Iraq's Shiite heartland, tensions remain high between Moqtada al Sadr and Iraq's ruling party SCIRI. Sadr, IMHO, is a short timer. He'll be killed soon enough by either the Sunni's or the police force formely known as the Badr Brigade. By Jill Carroll | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor NAJAF, IRAQ - On a recent Friday night here families thronged the brightly lit shops to buy clothing, jewelry, and religious trinkets on streets absent of foreign troops. It was a scene of startling normalcy for Iraq where few people venture out after dark for fear of insurgent attacks, coalition firefights, or plain criminality. But while nightlife has returned to this southern city largely free of insurgent bombs, the civil strife between Shiites is brewing just below the surface. MMMmmmm brewing The political fight for the control of the country's Shiite holiest city turned Najaf into a battlefield last summer when forces loyal to rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr engaged in fierce firefights with US forces. And in August, skirmishes involving Mr. Sadr's supporters turned Najaf's streets violent again, this time clashing with the militia of the ruling Shiite religious party the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). So reminiscent of 1932 Germany. Political parties? Yeah the Germans called their militia the brownshirts. Today, in the shadow of the city's gold dome and tile porticoes of the Imam Ali shrine that makes Najaf Shiite Islam's capital, a barely restrained tension between SCIRI and Sadr supporters continues. At the national level, the two leading Shiite groups have joined a political coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance, last week to run in the Dec. 15 elections. But in the streets here, that unity appears lacking. "For the Najaf people [Sadr] is an unwanted person. All steps taken by this man are not for the best, not for the good of all Najaf people," says Sayyid Ali, a gold merchant in the city's main market who wouldn't give his full name. Popular sentiment among anyone not living in a ghetto shithole seems to be against Sadr But down different alley in the large market is another jewelry shop. This one is decorated with posters of Sadr. "All the police and all the government are supported by [SCIRI]," says Hussein Rasool al-Akash, whose brother was one of four Sadr followers killed in the August clashes with Sadr forces and demonstrators who opposed him and his followers presence in Najaf. A family connection That violence lasted a few hours but had ripple effects throughout Shiite Iraq. Hours later, as word of the Najaf fight spread, battles broke out between Sadr followers and SCIRI forces across southern Iraq. Then, just as suddenly, all was quiet by the next afternoon after Sadr called for calm. We call that calling your dogs off But local government leaders are anxious to show there will be no trouble on their watch, having just taken over control of the city from US troops. "We are not worried at all about the Sadr movement. As a matter of fact, we believe it is the nearest movement we can go hand-in-hand with," says deputy governor Abdel Hussein Abtan, who oversees security in Najaf. In other words keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Mr. Abtan is also the secretary general of the Badr Organization in Najaf. The group was better known as the Badr Brigade or Badr Corps, the feared militia of SCIRI, until it vowed to disarm and focus on humanitarian work after the US invasion of Iraq. Yeah, dosarmed, yeah that's what we've done, we've disarmed. Isn't that right boys? Right right no guns here.But Sadr supporters and many Najaf residents say an armed Badr Brigade still exists as the Najaf police force. Police in Najaf bad, never. We're not like those bad boys in Basra, no sir! We'd never, how dare you... Abtan says the recent fighting was just the growing pains of freedom. "Democracy is new to the Iraqi people. As more time passes ... we will learn how to live together and make the best of it," he says. We hope so ladies! That message has not made it through to the Sadr officials in Najaf, however, just a few minutes away in this compact city. "In Najaf we suffer from an uncooperative government. They are not working with us with a good sense," says Salah al-Obaeidi, a Sadr representative in Najaf. "They try to be very restrictive of [Sadr] visitors, refusing to allow them to say the [Sadr Movement] slogans ... we can't say they have targeted us but we can say they are not cooperative with us." They don't even let us chant anymore! It's just barbaric. Mr. Obaeidi says that across southern Iraq the relationship between SCIRI and Sadr varies from tense coexistence as in Najaf, to the all-out armed conflict that has flared frequently in Basra and Samawa. The Shiite political parties like SCIRI entered Iraq from exile in Iran after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. As a result they have little constituency among average Shiites and many leaders have spent decades outside the country they are now ruling. Badr is popular though Instead, the majority of Shiites identify strongly with the marjiyeh, four grand ayatollahs who each hold the status as the highest religious Shiite authority. SCIRI was swept into office last January after Ali al-Sistani, the first among the four equals, was believed to have given his support to them. The divide between Sadr and SCIRI is more than just the natural rivalry produced by Iraq's new political plurality. It is rooted in historical tensions in the Shiite community, making the divide all the more entrenched. Sadr comes from a family of prominent Shiite clerics who have a history of being outspokenly antiestablishment. And outspokenly dead But SCIRI represents the Shiite establishment that supports Ayatollah Sistani, who was a rival of Sadr's beloved father. Sadr himself has few religious credentials and publicly pays homage to Sistani's authority. Dog knows when to heel. His weeks-long battle with American troops in Najaf in August 2004 was seen as an affront to Sistani's authority to some, but also earned him enormous street credibility. While most people across Najaf have chosen sides between the Sadr movement and SCIRI, some, like Kadhim Mohammed a shopkeeper here, are not allied with any political group and are caught in the middle of the Sadr-SCIRI power struggle. When asked about Sadr he was reticent. "I can't answer this question. I can't," says Mr. Mohammed, who wouldn't give his real name. "If you don't say anything for or against them, if you don't talk about it, you will be OK." The old "if I don't acknowledge it's there it ain't there" argument? Works everytime Mohammed, works every time! EP

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Iraq-Jordan

In Najaf, Shi'ites celebrate their freedom

2005-01-30

The women took advantage of the national holiday declared for today's election to promenade through the center of this holy Shi'ite city. Shop owners lolled about on carpets by the shrine of Imam Ali, flicking worry beads, bouncing children on their knees, and gossiping with friends. Despite the presence of thousands of special police and Iraqi National Guardsmen, Najaf had the festive air yesterday of a country in celebration. "This is the glorious day Iraqis have been awaiting so patiently," said Raad Abdali, 26, a police officer standing guard at the al-Shekeri Mosque. "Election day will open like a flower, revealing our future." The jovial atmosphere offered a marked counterpoint to much of the rest of Iraq, which has been plagued by anxiety and fear, with an intimidation and bombing campaign targeting voters and polling sites. Najaf is the spiritual capital of Shi'ite Islam, and one of the holiest places for Iraq's roughly 15 million Shi'ites. Yesterday also marked the Shi'ite celebration of Ghadir, which marks the designation of the first Shi'a imam prophet after the Prophet Mohammed. Thousands of Najafis roamed the streets: Most stores were closed for the holiday, but people took advantage of a crisp sunny day and a city center suddenly free from traffic as a preelection security measure. Firemen handed out lemon taffy to the men and women strolling to the Imam Ali shrine, many of whom shared Abdali's exuberance. "The fall of Saddam [Hussein] was inevitable, but it was not inevitable that there should be elections," declared Maitha Abdullah, 44, a merchant who sells women's purses.

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Iraq-Jordan

At Least 67 killed in Iraq bombings - Shi'ites Targeted

2004-12-20

At least 67 people were killed and many others injured in car bombings in the Iraqi holy cities of Karbala and Najaf on Sunday, according to reports. In Najaf, a suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into a funeral procession and exploded it just yards from the Imam Ali shrine, killing at least 51 people. CNN quoted Najaf police chief Ghalib Jazairi as saying that an Iraqi suspected of being involved in the attack was arrested. The suspect was picked up trying to escape the city in a car full of explosives, Jazairi said. The Karbala attack, which took place near the Bab Baghdad bus station -- killed 16 people and wounded 37. One of Najaf's leading Shia clerics, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Said al-Hakim, denounced the bombings. He said they aimed to "incite sectarian sedition" and that god would "avenge and compensate" the victims.

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