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Cleric's followers may leave Iraq's puppet gov't kep in place by U.S.
By LAUREN FRAYER, Associated Press Writer 34 minutes ago
Cars, minibuses and roadside bombs exploded in Shiite Muslim enclaves
across the city Sunday, killing at least 45 people in sectarian
violence that defied the Baghdad security crackdown, while a radical
anti-U.S. cleric raised a new threat to Iraq's government.
Two officials close to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said his
followers would quit their six Cabinet posts Monday - a move that
could leave Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's already weak
administration without enough support to stay in power.
And in a rare gesture of dissent from America's partners in Baghdad,
dozens of Iraqi policemen demonstrated in front of their station,
accusing U.S. troops of treating them like "animals" and "slaves."
The U.S. military command announced the combat deaths of three more
Americans. Two British service members died when their helicopters
crashed in midair north of Baghdad, and hours later a U.S. helicopter
was hit by ground fire near Mosul but landed safely with no injuries.
Six powerful bombs, gunfire and artillery blasts enveloped Baghdad in
a near-constant din that seemed a setback for the 9-week-old U.S.-
Iraqi military campaign to pacify the capital.
U.S. commanders previously cited a slight decrease in violence since
the crackdown began Feb. 14, but urged patience for what they warned
would be a long, tough fight.
"Although we're making steady progress ... we have a long way to go,"
Rear Adm. Mark Fox, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, told
reporters Sunday. "We will continue to face attacks from those who
attempt to tear down what the Iraqi people have worked so hard to
build."
The crackdown is believed to have driven many insurgents from Baghdad,
and violence has soared in areas outside the capital, such as the
bombing in the Shiite holy city of Karbala that killed 47 people and
wounded 224 Saturday.
But violence has spiked upward again in Baghdad, with Sunday's six
bombings coming just three days after a suicide bomber blew himself up
inside parliament and killed a lawmaker.
"This week has been difficult for the Iraqi people," Fox acknowledged.
The carnage caused some to voice doubts about the Baghdad crackdown.
"The security plan has made more troubles for Iraqis than helping
them," said Juma'a Khamis, 42, a technician who lives in the capital.
"There have been no positive results. It's a failure, and so is the
government."
Others retained hope that the campaign could carve out breathing room
for Iraqi forces to regain control of the city.
"We need to build our security forces, and step by step we can achieve
stability," said Nassir Amir, a 31-year-old civil engineer. "The Iraqi
government is trying its best but it faces a lot of difficulties ...
It needs more time - maybe one year at least."
Violence isn't the only threat to the government. A pullout by the al-
Sadr faction, which provided the crucial votes that put al-Maliki in
office, could collapse his already shaky regime.
Al-Sadr's six followers on the 37-seat Cabinet would officially
withdraw from the government Monday, said Saleh al-Aujaili and Hassan
al-Rubaie, members of the Sadrist bloc in parliament. They said al-
Sadr's 30 legislators would stay in parliament.
The officials said al-Sadr ordered the Cabinet ministers to quit in
protest over the arrests of leaders in his Shiite militia during the
Baghdad crackdown and for the prime minister's failure to back setting
a timetable for U.S. withdrawal.
Earlier in the day, dozens of Iraqi police officers chanted "No, no to
America! Get out occupiers!" during a protest at the Rashad station in
Baghdad's eastern neighborhood of Mashtal. U.S. troops in two Humvees
and a Bradley fighting vehicle watched from a distance.
Officers complained that American troops do not treat them with
respect, but it wasn't clear if any specific incident set off the
demonstration.
The day's first bombings came at midday, when two cars packed with
explosives blew up five minutes apart in a busy market area of Shurta
Rabia, a mostly Shiite area of western Baghdad.
The first detonated in front of a kebab restaurant, and the second
went off as rescuers were evacuating victims, police said. Many women
and children were reported among the 18 dead and 50 wounded.
Less than two hours later, a suicide bomber blew himself up on a
minibus near a courthouse in the mainly Shiite neighborhood of al-
Utafiyah of northwest Baghdad - killing at least eight people and
wounding 11, officials said. Many victims were severely burned, an
official at Khazimiyah Hospital said.
Another minibus rigged with explosives detonated near a cluster of
electronics shops in the predominantly Shiite district of Karradah,
killing 11 people and wounding 15, authorities said.
The owner of a glass shop said he saw someone park the bus and leave.
"It was an ordinary thing because usually bus drivers stop there
waiting for passengers, so we didn't suspect anything," said the
witness, who gave only his nickname, Abu Jassim. "Five minutes later,
the bus blew up - damaging the surrounded area and burning more than
eight civilian cars that were passing by."
After nightfall, insurgents struck in Karradah again - with two
roadside bombs exploding within five minutes and 20 yards of one
another. Eight more people died and 23 were wounded, police said. Six
shops and several parked cars were damaged.
The two British helicopters crashed after colliding over a rural area
near Taji, 12 miles north of Baghdad. Two British crew members were
killed and four were injured, one very seriously.
"We believe it's almost certainly an accident," Prime Minister Tony
Blair told British Broadcasting Corp. television.
British forces, headquartered in the southern city of Basra, rarely
fly missions near Taji.
"I can't talk about the particular mission they were involved in, but
we do have units operating as part of the coalition across Iraq," a
British defense official said on condition of anonymity, in line with
government policy.
In the northern city of Mosul, a U.S. Kiowa helicopter was hit by
insurgent ground fire, causing it to make a "precautionary landing due
to mechanical problems," a military statement said. The aircraft was
assisting Iraqi soldiers whose outpost was attacked by insurgents, it
said.
Uninjured, both pilots "returned to their base, launched another
helicopter and went back to the engagement area to continue the
fight," the statement said. Four Iraqi soldiers were killed in the
battle, it said.
One U.S. Army soldier was killed by small arms fire Sunday while
trying to reach an Iraqi police unit under attack near a mosque in
southern Baghdad, the military said in a statement. One civilian was
wounded in the incident.
Another soldier died Saturday when a roadside bomb exploded alongside
a foot patrol south of Baghdad, the military said. A Marine died the
same day in combat in Anbar province, west of the capital.
A third soldier died from non-combat related causes Saturday while on
leave in Qatar, the military said.
___
By LAUREN FRAYER, Associated Press Writer 34 minutes ago
Cars, minibuses and roadside bombs exploded in Shiite Muslim enclaves
across the city Sunday, killing at least 45 people in sectarian
violence that defied the Baghdad security crackdown, while a radical
anti-U.S. cleric raised a new threat to Iraq's government.
Two officials close to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said his
followers would quit their six Cabinet posts Monday - a move that
could leave Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's already weak
administration without enough support to stay in power.
And in a rare gesture of dissent from America's partners in Baghdad,
dozens of Iraqi policemen demonstrated in front of their station,
accusing U.S. troops of treating them like "animals" and "slaves."
The U.S. military command announced the combat deaths of three more
Americans. Two British service members died when their helicopters
crashed in midair north of Baghdad, and hours later a U.S. helicopter
was hit by ground fire near Mosul but landed safely with no injuries.
Six powerful bombs, gunfire and artillery blasts enveloped Baghdad in
a near-constant din that seemed a setback for the 9-week-old U.S.-
Iraqi military campaign to pacify the capital.
U.S. commanders previously cited a slight decrease in violence since
the crackdown began Feb. 14, but urged patience for what they warned
would be a long, tough fight.
"Although we're making steady progress ... we have a long way to go,"
Rear Adm. Mark Fox, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, told
reporters Sunday. "We will continue to face attacks from those who
attempt to tear down what the Iraqi people have worked so hard to
build."
The crackdown is believed to have driven many insurgents from Baghdad,
and violence has soared in areas outside the capital, such as the
bombing in the Shiite holy city of Karbala that killed 47 people and
wounded 224 Saturday.
But violence has spiked upward again in Baghdad, with Sunday's six
bombings coming just three days after a suicide bomber blew himself up
inside parliament and killed a lawmaker.
"This week has been difficult for the Iraqi people," Fox acknowledged.
The carnage caused some to voice doubts about the Baghdad crackdown.
"The security plan has made more troubles for Iraqis than helping
them," said Juma'a Khamis, 42, a technician who lives in the capital.
"There have been no positive results. It's a failure, and so is the
government."
Others retained hope that the campaign could carve out breathing room
for Iraqi forces to regain control of the city.
"We need to build our security forces, and step by step we can achieve
stability," said Nassir Amir, a 31-year-old civil engineer. "The Iraqi
government is trying its best but it faces a lot of difficulties ...
It needs more time - maybe one year at least."
Violence isn't the only threat to the government. A pullout by the al-
Sadr faction, which provided the crucial votes that put al-Maliki in
office, could collapse his already shaky regime.
Al-Sadr's six followers on the 37-seat Cabinet would officially
withdraw from the government Monday, said Saleh al-Aujaili and Hassan
al-Rubaie, members of the Sadrist bloc in parliament. They said al-
Sadr's 30 legislators would stay in parliament.
The officials said al-Sadr ordered the Cabinet ministers to quit in
protest over the arrests of leaders in his Shiite militia during the
Baghdad crackdown and for the prime minister's failure to back setting
a timetable for U.S. withdrawal.
Earlier in the day, dozens of Iraqi police officers chanted "No, no to
America! Get out occupiers!" during a protest at the Rashad station in
Baghdad's eastern neighborhood of Mashtal. U.S. troops in two Humvees
and a Bradley fighting vehicle watched from a distance.
Officers complained that American troops do not treat them with
respect, but it wasn't clear if any specific incident set off the
demonstration.
The day's first bombings came at midday, when two cars packed with
explosives blew up five minutes apart in a busy market area of Shurta
Rabia, a mostly Shiite area of western Baghdad.
The first detonated in front of a kebab restaurant, and the second
went off as rescuers were evacuating victims, police said. Many women
and children were reported among the 18 dead and 50 wounded.
Less than two hours later, a suicide bomber blew himself up on a
minibus near a courthouse in the mainly Shiite neighborhood of al-
Utafiyah of northwest Baghdad - killing at least eight people and
wounding 11, officials said. Many victims were severely burned, an
official at Khazimiyah Hospital said.
Another minibus rigged with explosives detonated near a cluster of
electronics shops in the predominantly Shiite district of Karradah,
killing 11 people and wounding 15, authorities said.
The owner of a glass shop said he saw someone park the bus and leave.
"It was an ordinary thing because usually bus drivers stop there
waiting for passengers, so we didn't suspect anything," said the
witness, who gave only his nickname, Abu Jassim. "Five minutes later,
the bus blew up - damaging the surrounded area and burning more than
eight civilian cars that were passing by."
After nightfall, insurgents struck in Karradah again - with two
roadside bombs exploding within five minutes and 20 yards of one
another. Eight more people died and 23 were wounded, police said. Six
shops and several parked cars were damaged.
The two British helicopters crashed after colliding over a rural area
near Taji, 12 miles north of Baghdad. Two British crew members were
killed and four were injured, one very seriously.
"We believe it's almost certainly an accident," Prime Minister Tony
Blair told British Broadcasting Corp. television.
British forces, headquartered in the southern city of Basra, rarely
fly missions near Taji.
"I can't talk about the particular mission they were involved in, but
we do have units operating as part of the coalition across Iraq," a
British defense official said on condition of anonymity, in line with
government policy.
In the northern city of Mosul, a U.S. Kiowa helicopter was hit by
insurgent ground fire, causing it to make a "precautionary landing due
to mechanical problems," a military statement said. The aircraft was
assisting Iraqi soldiers whose outpost was attacked by insurgents, it
said.
Uninjured, both pilots "returned to their base, launched another
helicopter and went back to the engagement area to continue the
fight," the statement said. Four Iraqi soldiers were killed in the
battle, it said.
One U.S. Army soldier was killed by small arms fire Sunday while
trying to reach an Iraqi police unit under attack near a mosque in
southern Baghdad, the military said in a statement. One civilian was
wounded in the incident.
Another soldier died Saturday when a roadside bomb exploded alongside
a foot patrol south of Baghdad, the military said. A Marine died the
same day in combat in Anbar province, west of the capital.
A third soldier died from non-combat related causes Saturday while on
leave in Qatar, the military said.
___
