 |
| A joint funeral was held Sunday for the governor of Qadisiyah Province and the police chief. Jalal Mudhar/AP |
Trouble grows in Iraq's Shiite south
Assassinations and party rivalries roil economically vital southern Iraq as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki bids to solve a national political rift in talks this week.
from the August 13, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 2
Page 1 | 2
Badr issued a statement Saturday calling Jalil "a holy fighter" and accusing "remnants of the Saddamist regime" of the crime. SIIC pointed the finger at the "gangs of aggression, dishonor and organized crime," in what may be a veiled reference to rogue elements of the Mahdi Army militia of rival Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Diwaniyah was the scene of fierce clashes in April between the US Army and Iraqi forces loyal to Badr and elements of the Mahdi Army. Mr. Sadr's office was attacked several times.
Adel al-Yassiri, an aide to Mr. Sadr in Najaf, denied any hand in the assassination of the governor and police chief and blamed the "enemies of Iraq who want to sow discord between Shiites ... the Saddamists and [US] occupation forces." He nonetheless said that Sadr has no control over those pretending to be with Sadr's movement. "Anybody can wear black, carry a poster of the sayed [Sadr], and pretend to be with the movement."
The US military has continuously charged that offshoots of the Mahdi Army, known as "Special Groups," receive explosives and training from neighboring Iran to kill US soldiers in Iraq.
Najaf, considered the equivalent of the Vatican for Shiites, is also on edge. At least four senior aides to Grand Ayatollah Sistani have either been shot or stabbed to death in the province since early July. The latest killing took place Thursday when Sistani aide Fadel al-Aqel was gunned down in the city.
Najaf government spokesman Ahmed al-Duaibel said the city was on alert but denied that the killings were politically motivated, instead he blames "terror or personal vendettas." Najaf's governor belongs to SIIC, the powerful party that enjoys close ties with Ayatollah Sistani, Iraq's most revered cleric.
All of this takes place at a time when SIIC has stepped up its controversial campaign to unify the nine provinces south of Baghdad into "the South of Baghdad Region" as part of an ambitious federalist project.
An example of the messy and complex struggles in the south took place recently in Qurnah, north of Basra, when gunmen from the Maliki tribal confederation battled members of the Fraijat tribe. The clashes, which lasted two days and left at least three people dead, according to security sources in Basra, erupted Friday when the son of tribal chieftain Sheikh Sabah al-Maliki was murdered.
Witnesses said that SIIC's offices in the Qurnah area and those of the Dawa Party of Prime Minister Maliki, who hails from the same tribe, were torched in the fighting.
A Basra-based university professor, who did not wish to be identified for security reasons, says Sheikh Sabah was tainted by his close relationship with Saddam Hussein.
As for the role of Iran, Dubai-based Mr. Ani says that although Tehran, which enjoys a very strong relationship with Badr and SIIC, would benefit from a region under their control, it knows this is not achievable in the short term. As a result, it's hedging its bets by backing several horses, Ani says. "Iran supports all groups, from small to large. They want to play on the divisions of Shiites and want to control all the strings."
A Basra-based journalist, and Awadh Al-Taiee in Baghdad, contributed to this report.
1 | Page 2
RSS feed
