IRAQ: Iraq PM orders US to ease grip on Shi'ite bastion, as violence in capital continues

Record ID: 356899

  • Title: IRAQ: Iraq PM orders US to ease grip on Shi'ite bastion, as violence in capital continues
  • Date: 31st October 2006
  • Summary: (W2) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (OCTOBER 31, 2006)(REUTERS) EMPTY STREET POLICEMEN MANNING CHECKPOINT AT ENTRANCE TO CITY VARIOUS PEOPLE IN STREET WOMAN CARRYING SHOPPING BASKET WALKING IN STREET
  • Embargoed: 15th November 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA8CM6HLQG81U6V3QTNITOQH0RA
  • Story Text: Iraq's prime minister, in a very public demonstration of his influence over the U.S. military, announced the lifting on Tuesday (October 31) of a week-old cordon around the Baghdad militia stronghold of one of his key Shi'ite allies.
    Other checkpoints that have snarled traffic around the capital for the past week as U.S. and Iraqi forces have hunted a kidnapped American soldier would also have to open by 5 p.m. (1400 GMT), Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in a statement.
    U.S. spokesmen initially said they were unaware of the order distributed to the media and then said only that the military would try to "address concerns ... about checkpoint operations".
    But an aide to Maliki said the move, which follows days of public friction between the prime minister and U.S. officials in the run-up to next week's U.S. congressional election, had been agreed with the U.S. ambassador and the U.S. military commander.
    Though reporters saw some movement by U.S. troops around Sadr City, the sprawling slum controlled by the Mehdi Army militia of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, several roadblocks remained in place two hours before Maliki's deadline.
    "Security clampdown or the security siege imposed by the U.S. forces on the Sadr City has caused a deterioration in the health condition and the psychological status and a deterioration in public services. There was a blast in Sadr City yesterday and they blocked the road," said La'eem Jabbar Ali, a local resident
    Sadr's organisation, blamed by many once dominant minority Sunnis for sectarian death squad killings, ordered the two million people in the area to stay at home and shops to close in protest at what it called the "U.S. siege" of Sadr City. A spokesman for the cleric denied reports about the abducted soldier, saying it was an excuse by the Americans to infiltrate the Shi'ite stronghold. "What Sadr City went through is another lie, similar to what the American government did when it said that there were weapons of mass destruction and occupied Iraq. This time, it has another excuse, the abducted soldier, or abducted American in Sadr City. This is not true. There is no abducted American soldier but this is just an attempt to hit the city or infiltrate it," said Fatah Al-Sheik.
    The military has not identified the missing soldier but Maliki told Reuters last week his name was Ahmed al-Taie and that he was snatched during a visit to relatives.
    Sadr, a firebrand young preacher, is a powerful figure within the Shi'ite bloc that dominates Iraq's government. His Mehdi Army is a nationwide movement that controls police and much else in Sadr City and is blamed by the U.S. military and minority Sunni leaders for kidnappings and death squad killings.
    In the latest bout of mayhem in Iraq, police said more than 40 people were missing after a mass kidnap attack on minibuses travelling to Baghdad from the north.
    Earlier, a car bomb exploded near a popular restaurant in northeastern Baghdad, killing three civilians and wounding 10 others, police said.
    They said that the car was parked outside Al-Ibtissam fast-food restaurant in Palestine Street.
    Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has said earlier that he could get violence under control in six months if U.S. forces gave his forces more weapons and responsibility. He also said his priority was fighting Sunni insurgents and al Qaeda, rather than disarming Shi'ite militias.
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