Main Security Incidents In Iraq January 30th 2007 Translated And Summarised From Arabic
Today President Cheney celebrated his birthday and his bonuses from Haliburton. I will update the reports of some of the gifts bestowed upon the Iraqi people by Cheney today, most people blow out candles but if you are the American president and you have a drunk chimpanzee as your mouthpiece you can be a bit more ambitious you can blow out the candles of human beings lives instead.- Saba
Ashura Attacks Main Reports
The Ashura commemoration rites in Karbala completed at least 1½ million pilgrims took part.
The Husseiniyah in Jihad district of Baghdad was attacked by mortar, gunmen had attempted to storm it on Monday night but were fought off by guards and residents, 4 civilians were killed in that attack none died in the mortar attack. 2 cars going to Karbala attacked 4 pilgrims killed 7 wounded near the Sunni Ibn Taymiyya mosque west Baghdad. Two bombs tageting a pilgrim route on the road south of Latifiyah to Karbala have been dismantled a suicide bomber was prevented from entering the city. The head of the Turkmen Front political party escaped an assasination attempt, the atttempt (sequenced bombings) took place in Taza, 15 km south of Kirkuk . He was attending Ashura ceremonies. The casualty toll of the suicide bomber attack on Ashura rites in Baladroz is now revised upwards 23 dead 57 wounded the bombing of the procession in Khanaqiin killed 13 and wounded 39 3 women and some children amng the victims numbers not yet established of those. Mortar attacks on Sadr city wounded three people. The attack on the pilgrims gathering at Kadhimiya where the shrine of the 7 imam is killed 9 pilgrims. (Kadhimiya is named after the 7th Imam Musa al Kadhim he and his grandson the 9th Imam are both buried there.)
Najaf/Karbala Ashura
Iraqi green zone government TV said thedeath toll from the fighting north of Najaf was 263 dead, 210 wounded, and 392 detained.
Update to Yesterday’s Posting
from Erdla:
Source to below is Reidar Visser mail sent to all subscribers to his mail list:
[A few more details about yesterday’s Mahdist story have now been added at historiae.org, and, given the extraordinary character of these developments, the new information is repeated below for the convenience of subscribers. Those who wish to see a (poor-quality) photograph of a peaceful Mahdist demonstration in Basra back in 2005 may do so at http://historiae.org/mahdism.asp]
UPDATE 30 January 2007
Claims and counterclaims as to the exact identity of the armed group in question continue to materialise. One piece of information that seems relevant is that one week ago, the group led by Ahmad al-Hasan publicly complained about severe harassment by local Najaf authorities – suggesting that there is a strong likelihood of at least some kind of involvement on their part, or perhaps on the part of a splinter group. If this interpretation is correct, the confusion surrounding the identity of the “leader” of the group may presumably be attributed to a special feature of the group’s ideology: Ahmad al-Hasan, who has been the leader of the group for several years, never claimed to be the Mahdi himself, but rather said he acted as his “representative” or “agent” (wasiy). In contrast, the “leader” killed at Najaf supposedly claimed to be the Mahdi, and this man, reportedly from the Middle Euphrates, must be distinguished from Ahmad al-Hasan. He may even have represented a breakaway faction in disagreement with the main branch on the question of the appearance of the Mahdi and its timing – this is certainly something Mahdists have been quarrelling over historically. (A different although not entirely incompatible version of events suggests that members of two major tribes in the area opposed to SCIRI hegemony in Najaf had been involved. Many of the radical Shiite splinter groups in Iraq increase their numbers of followers by attracting tribesmen from selected tribes or tribal sections, and the local authorities in Najaf, for their part, may have been interested in hyping the story to send a strong warning to Sadrists and other discontents.)
It can be expected that mainstream segments of the Shiite community will be quick to dismiss any unorthodox group for having links to “Baathists” and “foreign fighters”, and they may well produce exaggerated claims about the monstrosity of the aborted “plot”. (Admittedly though, the sheer firepower involved does suggest that something extraordinary was afoot.) This is a predicable strategy, frequently followed by the orthodox Shiite clergy in the past – for instance when they in the nineteenth century closed ranks against Shaykhi, Babi and Baha’i dissidents (all with various degrees of Messianic or Mahdist tendencies) and did not shy away from enlisting the support of the (Sunni) Ottoman government for this purpose. But Mahdist tendencies have been in evidence in southern Iraq for more than three years straight, and, far from being reducible to a conspiracy by Sunni militants, Ahmad al-Hasan’s group represents a point on a continuum from Shiite orthodoxy and Mahdism – a scale on which the various Sadrists groups (as well as supporters of Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadinejad) also reside, albeit not quite as close to the Mahdist pole. Above all, this incident demonstrates the futility of a simplistic approach to Iraqi politics in which Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds are considered as monolithic blocs that can be dealt with by establishing rapport with a few selected political elites, and where a tripartite formula is seen as the panacea that will bring an end to violence in Iraq. That kind of approach severely underestimates the degree of internal complexity for instance among the Shiites, and will in the long run entail the risk of creating even more violence
Baghdad
The toll of the mortar attacks on mostly Sunni district of Adhamiya (northern Baghdad,) is now 17 people dead and 72 wounded many of the wounded are in critical condition. (10 killed 28 wounded in this attack)
Salah ad Din
A raid on smugglers east of Baiji resulted in the confiscation of several tankers, the death of one green zone government policeman, and the detention of 90 smugglers. Another raid this time looking for fighters opposing the American invasion of Iraq led to fighting in the fighting two gunmen were killed (as usual they are being described as “leaders” - Saba)
Mosul
2 green zone government police captains were killed and 2 others wounded in a bombing attack. [This was probably a revenge attack for last Sunday see last line of story - Saba] A patrol of the American invaders has been bombed, a senior employee of the electricity directorate has been assasinated, a wide ranging “sweep” has so far failed to discover any weapons or wanted persons. Update: Unidentified body found .
Fallujah
A green zone government police patrol was ambushed in the centre of the town close to cemetary the gun battle lasted nearly 20 minutes. One of the attackers was killed and one captured after being seriously wounded, most of the attackers escaped. The American invaders’ base in Fallujah came under mortar attack this afternoon. Following the setting on fire of five houses used by green zone government police, the body of a green zone government policeman and the body of a teacher have been found American invader troops have now cut off all access to the city which is controlled by 7 heavily fortified entrance portals.
Wasit
A former member of the Ba’ath was attacked by gunmen in the town of Aziziyah he survived his 20 year old son was killed. American warplanes have again bombed the village where their raids were conducted last week.
Hilla
A mortar attack killed one civilian and injured two.
Basrah
All the British invader bases came under heavy shelling last night some damage to one of them but the British spokeswoman refused to say which one or how bad.
Indexed under: Al Anbar (Governorate), Aswat Al Iraq - News, Baghdad, Baqubah, Basrah, Disputed Areas, Diyala, Fallujah, Kirkuk, Najaf