Baghdad market blasts kill 28
Pastor Dale Morgan
Friday January 26, 1:00 AM Reuters
*Baghdad market blasts kill 28*
By Mariam Karouny
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Bombs killed at least 28 people in Baghdad on
Thursday, but Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed his new
crackdown in Baghdad would leave militants nowhere to hide.
In a speech to parliament, Maliki urged politicians on all sides to
support his security plan, backed by some 17,000 U.S. reinforcements,
which is seen by many as a last chance to stem sectarian violence in the
capital.
"There will be no safe haven -- no school, no home, no (Sunni) mosque or
Shi'ite mosque. They will all be raided if they are turned into a
launchpad for terrorism, even the headquarters of political parties," he
said.
Maliki said his determination had already borne fruit.
"I know that senior criminals have left Baghdad, others have fled the
country. This is good, this shows that our message is being taken
seriously," he said.
Some fear that militants may simply avoid confrontation in the
crackdown, betting that eventually U.S. troops will leave.
"There is a ... concern they might be lying low, avoiding conflict now
in order to fight another day," U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said on
Wednesday.
Criticised for not doing enough about Shi'ite militias linked to some of
his allies, Maliki has vowed to take on armed groups regardless of sect
or political affiliation.
"We have worked hard to get professional officers to lead this plan,
with no political affiliations. So let's all help these officers," he
said, answering criticism that the Iraqi army and police are infiltrated
by sectarian militias.
Washington has identified the Mehdi Army, a militia loyal to radical
Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, as the greatest threat to security in
Iraq and has warned that the success of Maliki's plan depends on him
going after Shi'ite militias with as much determination as he deals with
Sunni Arab insurgents.
The prime minister, who depends on Sadr's political movement for support
in parliament, has been accused of failing to crack down on the Mehdi
Army in the past, but officials in his Shi'ite Alliance say he has now
accepted he must take action.
A senior member of the Sadrist movement, Bahaa al-Araji, pledged the
group's support for the plan in parliament, as did the main Sunni Arab
and Kurdish parties. The parliament voted unanimously to support the plan.
NO LET-UP
Since Maliki announced his plan earlier this month there have been a
string of bombings and dozens of bodies continue to be found dumped in
the city, apparent victims of death squads. Thirty-three were found on
Wednesday alone.
A car bomb ripped through a shopping district in Karrada in central
Baghdad, killing 20 people and wounding another 20, a police source said.
Another car bomb and a motorbike bomb exploded in other markets, killing
five people, while a roadside bomb killed three, police said. Earlier
this week a double bombing at a market killed at least 88 people in
central Baghdad.
Two rockets landed in the heavily fortified Green Zone housing the
government and embassies, provoking loudspeaker warnings to for people
to take cover. The U.S. military had no immediate information on casualties.
Maliki said Iraqi security forces would start to remove squatters from
Baghdad homes they have illegally occupied since the owners fled
sectarian intimidation and ethnic cleansing.
"Today or tomorrow we will start arresting those who are living in the
homes of refugees, to open the way for their return," he said.
Tens of thousands of people, including Shi'ites, Sunni Arabs and
Christians, have fled their homes in Baghdad because of violence and
threats that have turned many formerly mixed districts into sectarian
enclaves.
Maliki also rejected suggestions his security plan was a last chance:
"The battle between us and terrorism is an open-ended battle. It does
not stop with the end of this plan."
With U.S. public patience running thin, U.S. President George W. Bush's
plan to send 21,500 extra troops has met stiff opposition in the new
Democrat-dominated Congress.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday voted 12-9 against
the new war strategy in a resolution that is due for a vote by the
entire Senate next week.