Gorilla’s Guides

Jan 28th Updated

These are the main reports only - there are many more relatively minor incidents. Also I have editorialised a little. I am updating this post regularly you might have to refresh your browser. See also previous reports here from January 22nd and subsequently.

Saba

Ashura/Karbala

A carbomb was intercepted on the road going to Karbala the three in the car detained. One in the car was Saudi one an Afghan no details on the third.

Ashura/Najaf

The text below is the English report here it is close to the Arabic text. Western reports are getting the nature of the group completely wrong. They are a breakaway and very violent Shia cult saying they are Sunni is an extremely stupid mistake it is the sort of extremely stupid mistake that western journalists incapable of reading writing or speaking Arabic routinely make. Those stupidly mistaken western reports then filter back to Iraq and sectarianism is further inflamed. Iraqis are being killed becase of stupid American and British not fact checking with Iraqis. The idea of a Sunni extremist group living in that part of the country is completely stupid and only somebody with zero knowledge would wriite it.

Saba

Najaf-Clashes-Update 1
Six gunmen arrested, 17 soldiers wounded in Najaf clashes
By Haider al-Kaabi
(Adds casualties, changes datelines)
Najaf, Jan 28, (VOI)- Najaf governorate media spokesman said six gunmen were arrested during on-going clashes between security forces and an armed group in Najaf while a medical source said 17 soldiers were wounded during the operation.
Najaf-Clashes-Update 1
Six gunmen arrested, 17 soldiers wounded in Najaf clashes
By Haider al-Kaabi
(Adds casualties, changes datelines)
Najaf, Jan 28, (VOI)- Najaf governorate media spokesman said six gunmen were arrested during on-going clashes between security forces and an armed group in Najaf while a medical source said 17 soldiers were wounded during the operation.
“Iraqi security forces arrested six gunmen during an operation that started today at dawn and targeted the stronghold of an armed group called “Supporters of Ahmed al-Hassan” in al-Zarga area just outside Najaf,” Ahmed Deiabil, Najaf governorate media spokesman, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
The spokesman said “Iraqi security forces clashed on Sunday at dawn with followers of an armed group called “Supporters of Ahmed al-Hassan” just outside Najaf.”
The fierce clashes erupted, the spokesman pointed out, when the security forces raided al-Zarga area to arrest Ahmed al-Hassan.
“The area is now under siege by the Iraqi forces backed by U.S. troops,” Deiabil added.
Earlier, a security said Iraqi security forces clashed on Sunday at dawn with followers of an armed group called “Supporters of Ahmed al-Hassan” in the Shiite sacred city of Najaf.
The security source added “the assault was to arrest the group leader Ahmed al-Hassan but the strong resistance led the Iraqi forces to ask for support from the U.S. troops.”
According to the agreement that transferred the security responsibility to the Iraqi army in Najaf on December 25, the Iraqi security forces may ask for support from the U.S. forces.
He added “the U.S. forces immediately took part in the offensive while U.S. choppers and warplanes bombed the resistance pockets in the area.”
“The clashes left casualties from the two sides (the forces and the followers),” said the source but declined to give a specific figure.
“Ahmed al-Hassan Supporters” is an extremist Shiite armed group that sought leadership over other Shiite groups after its leader claimed to be a deputy of the Shiite twelfth Imam, the Awaited Mahdi.
Al-Zarga area, the stronghold of Ahmed al-Hassan Supporters, is a rural area that is located outside the Shiite sacred city of Najaf.
Only last week, Iraqi security forces launched a wide-scale campaign to stem this extremist group.
Najaf is 168 km in southwest of Baghdad.
A medical source told VOI “the clashes left so far 17 wounded, all of them Iraqi soldiers, who were hospitalized for treatment in Najaf.”
The casualties among the armed group fighters were still unknown, the medical source added.

The 3rd urgent Arabic language update posted here. It Adds some important further details and confirms others. The group is led by Ahmed al-Hassan who has convinced his followers that he is the deputy of the 12th Imam. They have conducted several very violent operations in the area bounded by the three hold cities. Including some very recently (See reports by Mohammed Ibn Laith in particular ) The numbers involved in the group are somewhere between 100-200 fighters. They have condcted several attacks in the area recently. The operation against them started at dawn today and included regular units and units from the scorpion units. It seems from the reports that there may have also been a small group of fighters from a Sunni group not linked to the cultists. Flushed out in the operation against the cultists. This accounts for the reference to “Afghans”

Any successful attack in Karbala during Ashura would lead to massive casualties would inevitably be blamed on Sunnis and would lead to massive reprisals.

Saba & markfromireland

The 2 other main storys are from Baghdad.

Bagdhad

.

Mortar Attack on School 5 Schoolgirls Killed 20 Wounded

“The Arabic language report is here. The text below is from the English language report see my note below for details not in English language report:

School-Massacre

Mortar attack causes school massacre in Baghdad

By Wathiq Ismael

Baghdad, Jan 28, (VOI)- A mortar attack on Sunday shortly before noon led to a massacre in a girls secondary school in western Baghdad, the school principal said.

Six mortar rounds landed today shortly before noon on al-Khulood secondary school for girls in al-Adel neighborhood, killing five students and wounding over 20,” the school principal Ms. Fawziyah Hatroosh told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

She added “the blast smashed the windows leading to raise the casualties to over 25.”

Al-Khulood school is located at the Sunni al-Adel Neighborhood in western Baghdad.

Ms. Hatroosh said “the attack occurred when many students were at the school yard after they attended a mid-year exam.”

[Notes:

The school is large, famous, and very good - it has a junior school attached to it the junior school takes boys.

1. Most of the wounded were injured by shrapnel and flying glass.
2. At this time of year even schoolchildren whose parents keep them at home for safety reasons go to schools because there are oral examinations.

- Saba]

9 construction workers were wounded and 1 was killed by a bomber targetting a place in al-Qahira* where unemployed people gather early in the morning looking for a day’s work on building sites.

*”Cairo” - I have lost count of how often we have posted news about attacks like this. Saba

Indexed under: Baghdad, Jaish al-Mahdi, Mahdi, Mahdi Army, Militia, Najaf