BAGHDAD - Snipers held rooftop positions as masked Sunni Arab insurgents
said they were gearing up for another open street battle with pro-government
Shiite militiamen in Baghdad's Adhamiya district on Tuesday.
The Arab Sunni stronghold is still feeling ripples from overnight clashes on
Monday that appeared to be the closest yet to all-out sectarian fighting.
It's a reality that has Washington scrambling to avert civil war as Iraqi
politicians struggle to form a government four months after parliamentary
elections.
A U.S. military spokesman said 50 insurgents attacked Iraqi forces in the
middle of the night in a seven-hour battle that killed five rebels and
wounded an Iraqi soldier.
Fighting was so fierce that U.S. reinforcements were brought in to the
northern district, home to some of Iraq's most hardcore Sunni guerrillas and
the Abu Hanifa mosque, near where Saddam Hussein was last seen in public
before going into hiding.
Sporadic fighting continued on Tuesday.
"There are six people among our dead and wounded. Just half an hour ago a
sniper killed Ali," said Mohammad, a 28-year-old Adhamiya resident, of his
friend.
While the February bombing of a Shi'ite shrine pushed Iraq to the edge of
civil war and left hundreds of bodies with bullet holes and torture marks on
the streets, the scenario in Adhamiya is more alarming, despite fewer
casualties.
It appeared to be the first example of a large-scale, open sectarian street
battle in the capital, if not all of Iraq.
The boldness of the attack was a stark reminder of the security nightmare
that will challenge the new government, which will face a Sunni insurgency
that has killed many thousands of Shi'ite security forces and civilians.
"Today at noon a group of army soldiers came near the Abu Hanifa mosque and
a sniper went on top of the roof. We managed to kill him with a grenade. I
destroyed three of their vehicles with roadside bombs," said another rebel.
Insurgents setting up barricades said they saw Shi'ite fighters calling
themselves The Army of Haidar closing in on the Abu Hanifa mosque from three
directions.
DEATH SQUADS
"We expect them to come back again," said a man who only identified himself
as Abu Bakr and said he was a former army officer under Saddam.
His description of the events of Monday night were even more dramatic than
the U.S. military account.
"We saw about 100 to 150 men show up in cars. Some were wearing military
uniforms and others were in civilian clothes," he said, as five gunmen stood
guard over one of the main roads leading into Adhamiya.
Sunni leaders have accused the Shi'ite-led government of sanctioning militia
death squads, a charge it denies.
"What happened in Adhamiya is an evil act by an armed militia backed by
security and government operatives," Dhafer al-Ani, a member of the biggest
Sunni Alliance, told a news conference.
As Abu Bakr and his men geared up for a new fight, the Sunni town of Ramadi,
110 km (68 miles) west of Baghdad, was recovering from the latest rebel
assault.
The U.S. military said marines repelled insurgent attacks at several
locations in central Ramadi on Monday, including the local government
center, which often comes under fire.
The multiple suicide car bombs, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and heavy
machine guns appeared to be closely coordinated, said the military.
On Tuesday, residents said they kept their children home because insurgents
ordered schools closed. Streets were mostly empty.
Washington hopes training will improve the performance of Iraqi forces and
enable U.S. troops to start heading home.
But as the confusing Adhamiya fighting illustrated, it's hard to tell who is
wearing Iraqi military uniforms, complicating the task of stabilizing the
country.
© Reuters 2006
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Bush is stuck in Iraq and like Russia in Afghanistan, America will be
thoroughly ruined
because of the Bush stupidity.
.
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