Gorilla’s Guides

Early morning:

Team members in Karbala say the smell of death and explosive and flames is everywhere in the city. Corpses are being taken from hotels most of the corpses in the little streets are taken now the corpses in the main streets were removed early. The atmosphere they say is very tense. The sound of sirens is everywhere. There are very heavy contingents of interior ministry police and army troops.

Najaf also is under curfew according to team members there.

Main Report

Video from CCTV of riot here (note absence of weaponry see previous updates 1-4) [editor's note: Closed Circuit Televison - mfi: note added August 31st]

(It is now confirmed that many of the interior ministry troops are from the “Scorpion” Brigade.) Snipers are posted on the roofs. Also military aircraft and heavy armour in the streets and citizens are ordered not to leave their homes. Green zone government snipers and observers are positioned on the roofs of some of the hotels and other buildings. Several were wounded in a mortar attack on their command post this afternoon. The attack was heavy.

There is no word of the fate of 3 of the humanitarian and relief workers who went missing last night. Update: The number of Ambulances crashed is now known to be nine  – for many of these the drivers were killed by sniper fire. Also a blood delivery supply wagon carrying emergency supply of 450 blood donations being brought to treat the wounded.

So far (morning) 70 0f the wounded have been transferred to Najaf (to the Al Sadr and Al Hakim hospitals.) 10 are now released and 60 remain. A fleet of 22 ambulances brought the wounded from Karbala. This will continue.

The Dawa party headquarters (Central Karbala) was attacked and burn down. No casualties. The attack coincides with the visit of green zone government Prime Minister to Karbala. Maliki is the Dawa party leader. (The Dawa HQ is one kilometre away from the Imam Hussein shrine) - The attack was in the early afternoon which would suggest that control was not completely established.

update: The casualty toll according local hospitals being quoted by the independent Iraki newsagency Aswat Al Iraq (Voices of Iraq) is 42 dead (including 3 of the fighters who battled green zone forces) and 282 wounded. Update: the latest casualty count is 48 dead 384 wounded.

The city is still under curfew. Pilgrims are being prevented from entering. Although the doors to the shrines are opened. Many pilgrims from outside Karbala are returning to their homes. Maliki has accused the fighting of being caused by “criminal gangs” some of the local religious authorities have issued a statement blaming groups sponsored by Saudi Arabia Aswat AL Iraq’s report points out that Fatwas from Saudi clerics calling for Husseiniyahs and Mosques of the Shia to be destroyed have caused uproar and protests inside and outside Irak.

It is confirmed that the commander of green zone government forces in Karbala was removed from his post by Maliki a successor has been appointed but the statement did not give his name. (We presume this means the governor taking over command from Gen. Saleh al-Maliki was only very temporary but we do not know that.) Maliki also ordered the removal of 1500 named green zone government police officers Karbala. Maliki during his meeting with religious authorities in Karbala ordered that a special body be set up to coordinate pilgrimages at the Holy sites.

(The Americans have blamed the Mahdi army for the fighting saying that the “initial indications [are] that Mahdi army was behind the recent incidents in Karbala” They have also said that the green zone government will make “tough decisions” about the local commanders who failed to keep order. There is an English version of the report here.  While Interior ministry sources are saying that there are indications that the events in Karbala were not spontaneous but the result of outsiders plotting to provoke JAM  elements to commit sedition by acting as a type of agent provocateur to provoke less disciplined elements of the Mahdi Army to act as they did in the hope of sparking a Shiite Shiite war.)

A lot of arrests are going on ten Mahdi Army commanders and more than 60 Mahdi Army fighters in Karbala have been detained by green zone government forces since yesterday night.The home of one the commanders was burnt down by green zone government “national guard” troops during one these raids. (This was probably a bad mistake he is considered to be a moderate.)

A group belonging to the cult “warriors of heaven” was detained in Kufa.

Gunmen burn the headquarters of the SIIC (SCIRI) in Kufa

Radio Sawa are reporting that representatives of Grand Ayatollah al Sistani and SIIC (SCIRI) received death threats and were forced to stay in their homes in central Karbala fro three days.

Related Incidents

There were renewed clashes around Hamzah square this afternoon. In general in Baghdad an uneasy calm has prevailed. Some areas are almost completely free of traffic green zone government forces have also blocked several streets and main roads.

The bodies of several Badr brigade members who were abducted by an armed group believed to be JAM last night in Al Bai’aa were found dumped – the bodies had been burnt. (Badr officials say they contacted clergy asking them to intervene and mediate but were told to defend themselves only and not to take any action that would further escalate the situation.)

The commander of green zone government police for Babil was bombed as he went with a convoy of police (interior ministry Scorpio brigade) to Karbala. He survived the attack. The SIIC (SCIRI) offices in Iskandriyah came under mortar attack. 6 people were killed and 4 wounded in clashes between JAM and Badr brigade in Hamzah (SW Babil) also the home of a SIIC (SCIRI) municipal council member was bombed south of Hillah.

The SIIC (SCIRI) offices in Suq (Dhi Qar)came under attack early in the morning. The attack lasts about an hour and a half.

To everybody’s astonishment the pilgrimage to the mosque of Imam Ali in Basrah passed off without any incidents.

Other Reports

Humanitarian Matters: The fifth Egyptian medical relief caravan (and the second one this year) will arrive next week.

There is a good piece of reportage on the situation in Mosul here – shops and restaurants close before dusk, interviews with traders.