Mahdi Army cell leader behind deadly Baghdad bombing (No ceasefire from Sadr and Iran)

Yesterday's car bomb attack in the Shia neighborhood of Hayy Hurriyah in Baghdad's Kadamiyah district was carried out by a Mahdi Army Special Group cell, and not al Qaeda in Iraq, the US military stated.

The bombing was the largest inside Baghdad since March. The Iraqi military indicates 27 Iraqis were killed and 40 wounded, while press reports put the number killed as high as 51, with more than 80 wounded.

A Mahdi Army cell leader named Haydar Mahdi Khadum Al Fawadi was behind the attack, according to intelligence information obtained by Multinational Forces Iraq.

"We believe the attack was not conducted by AQI [al Qaeda in Iraq]," said Lieutenant Colonel Steven Stover, the chief Public Affairs Officer for Multinational Division Baghdad in an e-mail to The Long War Journal. Though vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices are a trademark of AQI, our intelligence, corroborated through multiple sources, is this atrocity was committed by a special groups cell led by Haydar Mahdi Khadum Al Fawadi."

Fawadi is behind multiple attacks on US and Iraqi forces. He uses the deadly explosively formed projectile weapons, which are manufactured in Iran, and more conventional roadside bombs in his attacks. "He intimidates the Shia population with threats of violence and murder," said Stover.

Stover said the intelligence indicates yesterday's attack was conducted to "incite Shia violence against Sunnis," and Fawadi hoped to "disrupt Sunni resettlement in Hurriyah in order to maintain extortion of real estate rental income to support his nefarious activities."

A Special Groups cell did take credit for the attack, said Stover. They claimed to have been targeting Coalition forces, but the closest forces nearby were more than 150 yards away.

A report from an earlier bombing where the Special Groups were mimicking al Qaeda style of attacks.:

Iranian Special Groups linked to Baghdad pet market bombing

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By Bill RoggioNovember 25, 2007 8:54 AM

The Friday, November 24 bombing of al Ghazi pet market in Baghdad was the largest attack in the capital in months. At least 15 Iraqis were killed and 56 wounded in the blast. US and Iraqi security forces now believe the attack was conducted by the Iranian-backed Special Groups and was designed to simulate an al Qaeda in Iraq attack in order to increase Shia dependency on militias.

The "ball-bearing laden bomb" was hidden inside a birdcage smuggled inside the pet market by members of the Special Groups, the US learned after capturing four members of the terror group.

"Based on subsequent confessions, forensics and other intelligence, the bombing was the work of an Iranian-backed special group cell operating here in Baghdad," said Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, the Deputy Spokesman for Multinational Corps Iraq in a press briefing on November 25. "The group’s purpose was to make it appear al-Qaeda in Iraq was responsible for the attack. Despite killing innocent Shi’a and Sunni, the special groups aim was to demonstrate to Baghadis the need for militia groups to continue providing for their security."

Smith was clear the evidence points directly back to the Special Groups, which are the creation of Iran's Qods Force, the clandestine foreign operations service of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps. "Special groups have been historically backed by the Iranians, the Qods forces we’ve described before," said Smith. "The training, the equipping that goes into the ability to conduct the kind of operation that was conducted yesterday, the making of the particular kind of bomb, the forensics that we know from that particular bomb and that explosion, has the fingerprints of a special group. Therefore, again, having been facilitated through Iranian connections."

The Special Groups cells, which "have been trained, equipped, financed, and sometimes even led by Iranian-backed groups," are still active inside Iraq, said Smith. He also noted that it is sill unclear if Iran has ceased operations inside Iraq. "To the extent that they are conducting, and supporting, training, equipping, and funding operations today in Iraq, we need to wait and see statistically if that’s the case," said Smith.

Major General Rick Lynch, the commander of Multinational Division Central where the Special Groups are active, recently said he believes Iran is still operating in his area of operations. "We're really in a wait-and-see mode to see whether or not there's specific progress. It's something we watch all the time," Lynch told The Associated Press.

"I'm still finding Iranian rockets and explosively formed penetrators that are traceable back to Iran," Lynch said. "But what I can't tell you is are these munitions that have recently been brought into Iraq or have they been here for a while. [The Qods Force and the Special Groups are] still operating in our battlespace. But I can't say whether or not this is an increased problem or a flatline problem or a decreasing problem."

Multinational Forces Iraq once again warned Muqtada al Sadr and the Mahdi

Also from the LWJ:

Entries from Today In Category: 'Yemen'

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A raid in Yemen netted an unspecified number of terrorists plotting attacks on western targets including Riydh al-Salehi a leading member of al Qaeda. Eleven "wanted people" arrested in late May have yet to be identified, and include both local rebels and al Qaeda operatives.

Posted by Bill Roggio on June 18, 2008 10:26 AM | Entry

Yemen retracted reports that 16,000 al Qaeda suspects were deported from 2005-2008. The statement that the "Afghan Arabs" were expelled in a counterterror campaign were clarified to indicate the deportees were migrants from the Horn of Africa. A government official also stated that the blockade on food to the 75,000 residents of Bani Hushaish was instituted in hopes that "once they begin to starve," residents will hand over rebel fighters who are hiding in the area.

Posted by Bill Roggio on June 16, 2008 1:18 PM | Entry

A gunman opened fire in a mosque in a predominantly Shiite northern town Friday, killing at least eight worshipers and wounding dozens. The attack took place in the town of Kohal in Amran Province, north of the Yemeni capital, Sana. An escalating war between northern rebels and the Yemeni military has recently spread to the Amran area, and it was not clear whether the attack on Friday was related.

Posted by Matt Dupee on May 31, 2008 9:10 AM | Entry

Yemeni authorities have detained 11 al Qaeda operatives in the capital who were suspected of planning terrorist acts. Those arrested include African nationals and Saudis. The group members were detained before they could continue their travels to Iraq.

Posted by Matt Dupee on May 29, 2008 11:33 AM | Entry

BBC Report:

Rogue Iraq militia 'ordered bomb'

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Mourners carrying coffins lead the funeral procession

The US military has blamed a rogue Shia Muslim militia for Tuesday's deadly car bombing in the mainly Shia Hurriya neighbourhood of Baghdad.

The confirmed death has risen to 63, Iraqi police said, making it the worst attack in the capital since March.

Many victims were trapped by a fire which engulfed a nearby building.

US officials said the attack may have been ordered to incite Sunni-Shia violence and prevent displaced Sunnis returning to their homes in Hurriya.

Intelligence information from multiple sources indicated a so-called "special group" led by Haydar Mehdi Khadum al-Fawadi was to blame, said US spokesman Lt Col Steve Stover.

Initial speculation had been that Sunni Muslim extremists connected to al-Qaeda - blamed for most bombings targeting Shia areas in Baghdad - may have carried out the attack.

The car exploded near a crowded bus stop in a commercial area in Hurriya, scene of some of the bloodiest sectarian and anti-US insurgency violence in recent years.

Witnesses said the blast set fire to a shared generator which spread to a two-storey building containing both shops and flats.

The attack followed a sharp drop in insurgency and sectarian violence in Baghdad, the result of crackdowns on Sunni Arab and Shia extremists and moves among Sunni communities to eradicate al-Qaeda-inspired groups.

Some 500 Iraqis were killed last month, compared with more than 1,000 in April.

And the toll of American soldiers killed in May - at 19 - was the lowest monthly figure since the conflict began.

The US military, which led an invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein's government five years ago, has repeatedly warned that security improvements are reversible.

Such attacks will continue to gain world attention and appear on the surface to offset all the good changes occurring in most areas of Iraq.
Iraq will never be rid of all those that would pull off such atrocities. No different then some goons in a US city that cut down a police officer that steps out of his car to say do a car check or some kid caught in the cross fire by some young drug gangs.
I am more concerned with the continued corruption reported within the central government and how they are keeping track of the oil/gas revenues, as well as how they are used to rebuild their country.
It will be interesting to see how their soon to be held provincial elections turn out. And if I may. Who is being groomed to run for the President and Prime Minister positions the next time around.

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