Posted on 08/13/2006 2:24:06 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Car bombs and a rocket barrage struck a crowded predominantly Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad late Sunday, killing at least 47 people and wounding at least 148, authorities said.
The attack on the Zafraniyah neighborhood in southern Baghdad began about 7:15 p.m. with two car bombs and a barrage of an estimated nine rockets, Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Saddoun Abu al-Ula said.
He said the barrage heavily damaged three buildings, including a multistory apartment house that collapsed. Al-Ula said the rockets appeared to have been fired from Dora, one of the mostly Sunni districts targeted by U.S. troops in a new security crackdown against sectarian violence in the capital.
Police Lt. Thaer Mahmoud said 47 people were killed and 148 were wounded.
The complex style of the assault was similar to a July 27 attack of mortars, rockets and car bombs on another mostly Shiite district, Karradah, which killed 31 people. Police said the rockets and mortars that struck Karradah also were fired from Dora.
A Sunni extremist group, the al-Sahaba Soldiers, claimed responsibility for the Karradah attack to punish Shiites for supporting the "crusaders," or Americans, and the "treacherous" Iraqi government.
Muhanna Yassin, who lives in Zafraniyah, said the attack left the neighborhood "a total mess" with "bodies of the dead and injured scattered around in the streets — old, young, women and children."
"The ground shook underneath us and there was chaos everywhere," he said in a telephone interview. "Everyone was dazed and confused, looking for their families. Some children and grown-ups were crying. I can't even begin describing their state."
He said many of the victims were cut by flying glass and debris, leaving parts of the streets soaked in blood. Iraqi state television reported that some victims may be trapped in the rubble of the apartment building.
The multiple attacks were part of the grisly pattern of Sunni-Shiite violence that American officials consider the greatest threat to Iraq's stability more than three years after the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein's regime.
U.S. commanders are sending nearly 12,000 U.S. and Iraqi soldiers into the capital to curb the surge of sectarian violence, which was described by the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, on Sunday as "the principal problem here."
"I believe that the sectarian violence is serious. I believe the Iraqis have overcome challenges before ... and they can overcome this as well," Khalilzad said on CNN.
Earlier Sunday, the U.S. command announced that soldiers of the 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division had arrested a key terrorist cell leader who was "directly linked" to the July 17 attack on an outdoor market in Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of Baghdad.
The statement said the arrest was made Thursday but did not give the suspect's name. Gunmen believed to be Sunnis opened fire on shoppers and vendors in the Mahmoudiya market during last month's attack, killing at least 51 people and wounding more than 70. Most of the victims were Shiites.
On Friday, U.S. soldiers arrested 60 Sunni men including members of an al-Qaida-affiliated cell that "specializes in bomb making" and carried out car bomb attacks in the capital, the U.S. command said.
Sectarian tensions have been rising following the Feb. 22 bombing at a Shiite shrine in Samarra, which triggered a wave of reprisal attacks against Sunni mosques and clerics. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have fled their homes since then, seeking refuge in areas where their Muslim sect is in the majority.
Much of the violence has been blamed on sectarian militias and armed groups that target members of the rival religious community. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, has promised to disband the militias, some of which are linked to figures in his own government.
On Sunday, Health Minister Ali al-Shemari, a member of a Shiite group that operates a militia, said American soldiers arrested seven of his bodyguards in a pre-dawn raid on his office.
"There was no legal warrant, there was no prior warning to the ministry, there was no reason to arrest them. It is a provocation," said al-Shemari, a member of the movement led by radical Shiite cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, head of the biggest Shiite militia, the Mahdi Army.
However, a U.S. military statement said coalition forces received a tip from a resident that "15 criminals wearing Iraqi army uniforms" had kidnapped six people and taken them to the Ministry of Health building.
Iraqi and U.S. soldiers searched the building and did not find any kidnap victims. But five detainees were taken in for questioning "based on their positive identification by the tipster," the statement said, without elaborating.
It was not clear if the raid was linked to the June disappearance of a Sunni provincial health official, Dr. Ali al-Mahdawi, who vanished after a meeting with the minister. Sunnis claimed al-Mahdawi was kidnapped by Shiite militiamen.
Al-Shemari denied any knowledge of al-Mahdawi's disappearance and said he had interviewed him for a senior post in the ministry.
Politicians from several factions, meanwhile, said Shiite and Kurdish parties are organizing a bid to oust the Sunni speaker of parliament.
Since taking office May 20, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani has made a number of statements that offended key constituencies, including speaking out against regional self-rule, strongly supported by Shiites and Kurds but opposed by many Sunni Arabs.
Al-Mashhadani's ouster, which could be done by a new vote in parliament, would be the first major shake-up in the government of national unity. Al-Mashhadani would likely be replaced by another Sunni Arab if the move against him succeeds.
___
Associated Press correspondents Sinan Salaheddin, Qais al-Bashir and Sameer N. Yacoub in Baghdad contributed to this report.
We should just pull our troops up to the Kurdish area and tell the rest of Iraq to give us a call when they are finished slaughtering each other like animals.
Culling the herd.
Iran is probably funding all of this!
Unfortunately, as long as they are allowed to sell oil and spend the proceeds on arms and fomenting chaos around the globe, they will continue to do so.
The MSM is obviously giving stories like this a high profile to take attention off President Bush's stunning success in foiling last week's terror plot.
The MSM is 'staying the course'. ;-)
This should have been done shortly after Saddam's regime was removed from power. We could have solidified our presence in the North with the one group that actually does support us (mostly because everyone else hates the Kurds). We could have achieved the bases we wanted to maintain in the region which would have been a nice threat to Syria and Iran, all without being actively involved with this democracy building nonsense which was doomed to failure from minute 1.
Had we done this some Sunni strongman, no doubt one connected to Saddam's regime, would have taken over and dominated all but the Northern areas we'd control. That new regime could be allowed to exist with the understanding that it won't attack or threaten the US. I am quite sure it would have been happy to agree to those terms. The religiously fanatical Shia would have continued to be supressed which would deny Iran the allied government in Iraq which has resulted in what we have done. We would have demonstrated to enemy regimes the world over that they would be removed from power if they attack or threat the US or our allies.
There will be no peace in Iraq until either the Sunni or Shia come to dominate the other. One side has to win. At the rate we are going and with our money and support, the Shia will be strong enough soon and they will want us out at that time. We are very near to having achieved creating a far worse situation in Iraq than existed before we invaded. The Shia are largely ignorant religious fanatics who, at least in the near term, will align themselves with Iran and the likes of Hizbullah.
Don't believe the MSM lies. President Bush, VP, Cheney, and Sec Rumsfeld know what they're doing.
Indeed, the Sunni are not our friends either. If we insisted on pushing ahead with this democracy stuff for Iraq, we would have had to deal with the Sunni with an iron fist. We did not do this.
Still, the Shia of Iraq tend to be far less educated, more religiously fanatical and much more likely to align themslves with Iran.
Think out of the box!
I believe in doing what is best for America, not what is best for Iraqi Shiites or any other group. The West is in a clash of civilizations with Islam, and I am prepared to support the suppression of lots of groups if it will contribute to American/Western victory.
I don't believe the MSM, nor am I particularly convinced Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld "know what they're doing" when it comes to our Iraq policy.
It is true that in Iraq we have been under attack mostly from Sunni Muslims, but worldwide, Shiites have been very happy to attack us too.
I'll take an uneducated person who won't shoot at me over an educated psycho.
Again, if your talking about Iraq, the Shiites shoot at us too. We fought a long series of battles against the Shiite Mahdi Army (and sadly failed to kill its leader Muqtada al-Sadr).
Shiite Hizbullah, with support from Iran, has a long history of attacking the United States - from the Marine Barracks, to US Embassy in Beirut, to Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. We are now in the process of giving Shiite Iran a new partner in the region to further attack the West. Ahmadinejad is no doubt very pleased with what is developing in Iraq.
The Muslim world is only 10%-15% Shiite, so it stands to reason that when Muslims attack us the odds are they will be Sunni. The Shiites hate us too though, maybe even more than the Sunni.
In Iraq, I'd have preferred to keep the minority Sunni in power rather than let the fundamentalist Shia rise up and seize power.
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