By Sameer N. Yacoub
The Associated Press, 06 October 2006
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Shiite militias were responsible for killing a Kurdish lawmaker who was kidnapped and shot to death, the lawmaker's party said Friday, blaming "a cowardly act of terrorism" for the first slaying of a parliament member in
Iraq's sectarian violence.
The lawmaker, Mohammed Ridha Mohammed, was a member of the Islamic Group, a conservative Sunni party in the Kurdish Alliance that is the second largest bloc in parliament.
He was abducted along with his driver Thursday after they left the Baghdad offices of a government agency that oversees Sunni mosques. Hours later, the two bodies were found with gunshots to the head and chest, said Firyad Rawndouzi, spokesman for the Kurdish bloc.
Mohammed was the first lawmaker slain from the current parliament, formed in February — although at least two members of the previous parliament were killed last year, before the wave of Shiite-Sunni slayings began.
While Kurds are often targeted by Sunni insurgents, Mohammed's religious credentials suggested he may have been the victim of Shiite militias. One official in his party, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, accused the Mahdi Army, one of the most powerful Shiite militias, in the killing.
"He was a person who always sought peace between Shiites and Sunni in Baghdad. He has fallen a martyr to this sectarian war and the armed militias," the party said in a statement.
"This is a cowardly act of terrorism committed by forces against democracy," Rawndouzi said.
Thousands have been killed this year in a cycle of Shiite-Sunni killings since February — although attacks on politicians have been less common. In July, a female Sunni lawmaker, Tayseer al-Mashhadani, was kidnapped by Shiite militiamen and held for two months until she was released unharmed.
During Friday prayers at the Imam al-Hussein shrine in Karbala, the representative of Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, urged militias to put down their arms.
"The weapons should be in the hands of the government only," Ahmed al-Safi told worshippers.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is struggling to rein in the sectarian violence, which has sharpened divisions within his government between Shiite and Sunni parties. Visiting Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice on Thursday met with al-Maliki and with the leaders of most of the ethnic and religious factions, delivering what U.S. officials said was a blunt message that the splits must stop.
A State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meetings were confidential, said Rice told them that Americans do not see the long history behind ethnic and sectarian splits. Rice said Americans need to see Iraqis working together, according to the official.
"What they see are Iraqis killing Iraqis, and that is not a good image," said the official, describing Rice's remarks.
A curfew and vehicle ban was imposed in Baghdad for most of the day Friday — a weekly occurrence to prevent attacks on Muslims gathering at mosques for prayers.
Before the curfew was put in place in the morning, one person was killed and four wounded in a double bombing outside a neighborhood power generator in the Qahira district. The first explosion set the generator ablaze, then when firefighters and others rushed in, the second went off, causing the casualties, police said.
In a predominantly Shiite part of eastern Baghdad, police found the bodies of five men in their 30s, the apparent victims of sectarian death squads — their hands and feet bound and signs of torture on their bodies.
Police found seven bodies floating in the area of Suwayrah, 25 miles south of Baghdad, said Maamoun Ajeel.
On Thursday, al-Maliki told The Associated Press that he was he was "optimistic" a political solution will be found to persuade militias to dissolve.
But once an agreement is reached, "the political solution must be obligatory, one that all parties adhere to," he said. "The presence of parties with militias in the government is not acceptable."
Several Shiite parties in al-Maliki's government have militias — some of them blamed for grisly kidnapping-murders that nearly every day leave tortured and bound bodies of Sunnis dumped in neighborhoods of the capital.
Shiites have argued that militias are needed to protect them against Sunni insurgents who have targeted their community with attacks against mosques, markets and other public areas. Shiite leaders have accused Sunni parties in the government of links to the insurgency. U.S. and Iraqi commanders have also said that some militia fighters may no longer be under the control of the parties, carrying out killings on their own.
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Citation: Sameer N. Yacoub. "Kurdish lawmaker killed in Baghdad," The Associated Press, 06 October 2006.
Original URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/iraq;_ylt=AgjKkD07aQS_OmNl_sqIsghX6GMA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
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