Violent Weekend in Iraq Kills Over 220
Pastor Dale Morgan
Violent Weekend in Iraq Kills Over 220 *
Jul 8 03:10 PM US/Eastern
By ROBERT H. REID
Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD (AP) - Prominent Shiite and Sunni politicians called on Iraqi
civilians to take up arms to defend themselves after a weekend of
violence that claimed more than 220 lives, including 60 who died Sunday
in a surge of bombings and shootings around Baghdad.
The calls reflect growing frustration with the inability of Iraqi
security forces to prevent extremist attacks.
The weekend deaths included two American soldiers—one killed Sunday in a
bombing on the western outskirts and Baghdad and another who died in
combat Saturday in Salahuddin province north of the capital, the U.S.
command said. Three soldiers were wounded in the Sunday blast.
Sunday's deadliest attack occurred when a bomb struck a truckload of
newly recruited Iraqi soldiers on the outskirts of Baghdad, killing 15
soldiers and wounding 20, a police official at the nearest police
station said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to
release the information.
Also Sunday, two car bombs exploded near simultaneously in Baghdad's
mostly Shiite Karradah district, killing eight people. The first
detonated at 10:30 a.m., near a closed restaurant, destroying stalls and
soft drink stands. Two passers-by were killed and eight wounded, a
police official said.
About five minutes later, the second car exploded about a mile away near
shops selling leather jackets and shoes. Six people were killed and
seven wounded, said the official, who also spoke on condition of
anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
The Karradah area includes the offices of the Supreme Islamic Council in
Iraq, the biggest Shiite party in parliament, and is considered among
the safest parts of the capital.
Elsewhere, a bomb hidden under a car detonated Sunday at the entrance of
Shorja market—a mostly Shiite area of central Baghdad that has been hit
repeatedly by insurgents—killing three civilians and wounding five,
police said.
Police also reported they found the bodies of 29 men Sunday scattered
across Baghdad—presumed victims of sectarian death squads. Four other
people were killed Sunday in separate shootings in Baghdad, police said
on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to release the
information.
The string of attacks in the Iraqi capital showed that extremists can
still unleash strikes in the city despite a relative lull in violence
here in recent weeks amid the U.S. offensives in and around Baghdad.
But the bloodshed in the Baghdad area paled in comparison to the carnage
Saturday, when a truck bomb devastated the public market in Armili, a
town north of the capital whose inhabitants are mostly Shiites from the
Turkoman ethnic minority.
There was still confusion over the death toll.
Two police officers—Col. Sherzad Abdullah and Col. Abbas Mohammed
Amin—said 150 people were killed. Other officials out the death toll at
115. Abbas al-Bayati, a Shiite Turkoman lawmaker, told reporters in
Baghdad that 130 had died.
Regardless of the precise figure, the attack was clearly among the
deadliest in Iraq in months. It reinforced suspicions that al-Qaida
extremists were moving north to less protected regions beyond the U.S.
security crackdown in Baghdad and on the capital's northern doorstep.
During a press conference Sunday in Baghdad, al-Bayati criticized the
security situation in Armili, saying its police force had only 30
members and that the Interior Ministry had finally responded to requests
for reinforcements only two days before the attack.
In the absence of enough security forces, al-Bayati said authorities
should help residents "arm themselves" or their own protection.
The call for civilians to take up arms in their own defense was echoed
Sunday by the country's Sunni Arab vice president, Tariq al-Hashemi, who
said all Iraqis must "pay the price" for terrorism.
"People have a right to expect from the government and security agencies
protection for their lives, land, honor and property," al- Hashemi said
in a statement. "But in the case of (their) inability, the people have
no choice but to take up their own defense."
He said the government should provide communities with money, weapons
and training and "regulate their use by rules of behavior."
Another prominent Sunni lawmaker, Adnan al-Dulaimi, said Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki had failed to provide services and security but he
stopped short of saying his followers would seek to topple the
Shiite-led government.
"The situation has become terribly bad," al-Dulaimi told The Associated
Press. "All options are open for us. We are going to study the situation
thoroughly, and we are going to look into the possible measures which go
with the interests of the Iraqi people. We will also consider whether to
keep on with the government or not."
The idea of organizing local communities for their own defense has
caught on here in recent months following the success of Sunni Arab
tribes in Anbar province that took up arms to help drive al-Qaida from
their towns and villages.
U.S. and Iraqi officials have said they hope to replicate the "Anbar
model" elsewhere in the country, albeit under government supervision and
control.
On Sunday, Lt. Gen. Ali Gheidan said the Iraqi army planned to raise
volunteer forces in Diyala province, where U.S. and Iraqi forces have
driven al-Qaida fighters from part of the capital of Baqouba. He said
more than 3,800 volunteers had already been recruited.
"Their mission will be like the police, working under the Iraqi police,"
Gheidan told reporters. "They work as a protection for each area, and
they will only be from the residents of that area. Their role is to hold
onto territory after it has been cleansed by the military."
U.S. commanders have long believed the key to restoring security was the
ability of Iraqi forces to hold on to areas cleared by American troops.
Several senior U.S. officers have questioned whether the Iraqi police
and army were capable of preventing insurgents from returning once the
Americans had left.
Local defense forces would offer a way to compensate for weaknesses in
the Iraqi police and army, but without careful controls, the system
could backfire by promoting more militias in a country already awash in
weapons.
Also Sunday, the British Defense Ministry announced the death of a
British soldier who was wounded Saturday in the biggest British
offensive against Shiite militias this year.