19 killed in suicide bombing targeting government-linked Shiite militia

The attack – the seventh suicide bombing in a month – seems to be an attempt by Sunni insurgents to destabilize Iraq's Shiite-led government.

|
Emad Matti/AP
Iraqi civilians and security forces inspect a crater caused by a car bomb attack in Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013.

A suicide bomber attacked a government-backed militia north of Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 19 people in an apparent attempt by Sunni insurgents to stoke unrest against Iraq's Shiite prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.

Police said the bomber had infiltrated a meeting of Sahwa tribal fighters and detonated his explosives as they were gathering to pick up salaries in Taji, a town 20 km (12 miles) north of the capital.

The seventh suicide bombing in a month was part of an surge in violence a year after US troops pulled out of the OPEC oil producer, where Shiite, Sunni and ethnic Kurdish factions still struggle over how to share power.

"We got a call they had been a huge blast on the Sahwa headquarters in Taji. The Sahwa were there to collect their pay," said local police commissioner Furat Faleh. "When we rushed to the hall ... people were lying bleeding all around and cash was scattered in pools of blood."

The Sahwa or "Sons of Iraq" are former Sunni insurgents who rebelled against Al Qaeda in the Sunni heartland province of Anbar at the height of the US-led war and helped American troops to turn the tide of the conflict.

No group claimed responsibility for Monday's attack, but Al Qaeda's affiliate, Islamic State of Iraq, has vowed to take back ground lost to American and US forces, and has urged Iraqi Sunnis to rise up against Mr. Maliki's government.

A suicide bomber and gunmen killed at least 33 people in a huge blast at the police headquarters in the disputed northern oil city of Kirkuk on Sunday.

Maliki has been struggling to end mass protests by Sunni Muslims against what they see as marginalization of their sect since the fall of Saddam Hussein and the rise of Iraq's Shiite majority.

The Sunni unrest and the violence are compounding fears that the war in neighbouring Syria – where Sunni rebels are battling to topple President Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Shiite Iran – could undermine Iraq's own delicate sectarian and ethnic balance.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to 19 killed in suicide bombing targeting government-linked Shiite militia
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2013/0204/19-killed-in-suicide-bombing-targeting-government-linked-Shiite-militia
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe