By Reuters, 24 August 2005
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Fighting broke out in Baghdad and the holy city of Najaf on Wednesday between rival Shi'ite militias, raising fears of a renewed uprising by radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi army against the U.S.-backed government.
At least eight people were killed and dozens wounded, health officials said, in street battles in Najaf involving pro-government Badr Organization fighters and supporters of Sadr, who has joined Sunni Arabs in denouncing a constitution the Shi'ite-led government is preparing to force through parliament.
The head of the Badr Organization denied it was involved.
The interior minister dispatched police commandos to Najaf and announced a curfew in the city on state television.
A spokesman for Sadr warned of a "general call to arms" unless rival groups apologized for what he called attacks on Sadr's office in Najaf. His Mehdi Army was banned after U.S. troops crushed two uprisings last year, but it has not disarmed.
Iraq's health minister, a Sadr supporter, said eight people were killed when a protest outside the movement's office in Najaf turned violent. He said he would suspend his role in the government until he was satisfied they had dealt with the issue.
Later, Baghdad police said armed Sadr followers attacked offices of the Badr Organization, allied to a powerful Shi'ite Islamist party in the ruling coalition, in three Shi'ite districts. Witnesses said at least one office had been occupied.
In the southern city of Basra, witnesses said about 300 armed men loyal to Sadr had gathered outside his office.
Earlier in the day, Sunni Arab insurgents had fought police in the streets of Baghdad, in the most brazen infantry attack they have launched in the capital for weeks, after Sunni leaders warned the adoption of the constitution could lead to civil war.
Witnesses said up to 500 armed men loyal to Sadr had gathered around his Najaf office following battles that broke out after dark in the city, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad.
ACCUSATIONS
Sadr's spokesman blamed the violence on the police and "another group," an apparent reference to the Badr Organization, which is tied to the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), a key element of the coalition government.
Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabor, a SCIRI member, said he had sent police commandos to Najaf and a curfew would be imposed from 11 p.m. (1900 GMT).
"We call on everyone not to violate the security of all cities in Iraq and make the cities unsafe," Jabor said.
Rivalries have emerged among Shi'ite groups ahead of a constitutional referendum in October and an election scheduled for December. The government has disappointed the hopes of many in the Shi'ite majority who had expected rapid improvements in their
security and prosperity after decades of Sunni dominance.
Sadr, young for such an influential cleric, derives strength from poor Shi'ites and his late cleric father's religious aura.
An outspoken Iraqi nationalist, he has maintained political ties with leaders of the Sunnis, and his followers join Sunnis in criticizing SCIRI and other formerly exiled pro-government groups of being too close to non-Arab, Shi'ite Iran.
Hours earlier, in the capital, dozens of insurgents ambushed police in the Sunni stronghold of Hay al-Jamia in Baghdad. At least six police vehicles were set ablaze as a group of about 40 guerrillas, some with faces masked, fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons in a brazen assault on a police checkpoint and on reinforcements who arrived to help.
"It was raining bullets," said a police official, who said a dozen police vehicles had been sent in to try to evacuate those under attack, but had failed against the onslaught of gunfire. Police said 10 civilians and three policemen died. A police source said 43 people were wounded.
CONSTITUTION
Parliament is expected to vote on Thursday on the new constitution, although no sitting has yet been scheduled. When it was presented just before a Monday deadline, the vote was put off for three days, apparently to help tempers cool after Sunnis said they would demand further major changes.
A senior U.S. military official said his forces were bracing for an insurgent onslaught: "We believe that the enemy is still ... intending to conduct some larger-scale operation in Baghdad associated with the release (of the constitution)," he said.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani held another day of talks with leaders from the Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish communities on Wednesday to try to forge a consensus on the charter, but he looked unlikely to succeed before the vote on Thursday.
Sunni leaders said they were determined to stand firm against a document they argue would devolve too much power to the regions and which demonizes Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.
"We reject federalism in the central and southern regions, we reject it because it has no basis other than sectarianism," Adnan al-Dulaimi, head of an umbrella group called the National Conference for the Sunni People of Iraq, told reporters.
"Every Iraqi must stand in the way of all those who want to deepen sectarianism in Iraq."
In Hawija, north of Baghdad, hundreds of Sunnis, joined by Sadr supporters, marched against the constitution.
If two thirds of voters in at least three of Iraq's 18 provinces vote "No," the constitution will be rejected.
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Citation: "Fighting Breaks Out Between Shiite Militias in Iraq," Reuters, 24 August 2005.
Original URL: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-iraq.html?ei=5070&en=6dc319bedf45a0d4&ex=1125547200&emc=eta1&pagewanted=print
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