[NYTr] Al-Qaida fighters raid Iraq villages

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AP - Sep 16, 2007
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ?SITE=ALANN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Al-Qaida fighters raid Iraq villages

By SINAN SALAHEDDIN
Associated Press Writer

 BAGHDAD (AP) -- Dozens of fighters linked to al-Qaida in Iraq streamed
into Shiite villages north of Baghdad on Sunday, torching homes and
killing at least 15 people before Iraqi police and defiant residents
drove them away, police and army officials said.

In all, at least 41 people were killed or found dead nationwide -
including nine shot by security contractors in Baghdad, police said,
and five who died when a booby-trapped bicycle exploded near a cafe
serving tea and food during Ramadan fasting hours.

The bloodshed came the day after al-Qaida in Iraq announced a new
offensive in the Islamic holy month and was a blow to government hopes
that a peaceful Ramadan would demonstrate the success of the
seven-month operation in the capital.

In the raids on the villages of Jichan and Ghizlayat, the fighters
arrived from several different directions and residents fought back
until Iraqi security forces arrived and chased the attackers, who fled
to nearby farms.

The clashes about 60 miles north of Baghdad lasted about two hours, the
officials and witnesses said. They spoke on condition of anonymity
because they feared reprisals.

In Baghdad, Iraqi police said security contractors opened fire in a
predominantly Sunni neighborhood of western Baghdad on Sunday, killing
at least nine civilians. The U.S. Embassy said contractors working for
the State Department were involved in an incident in Baghdad but
provided no further details, saying an investigation was still under
way.

"We saw a convoy of SUVs passing in the street nearby. One minute
later, we heard the sound of bomb explosion followed by gunfire that
lasted for 20 minutes between gunmen and the convoy people who were
foreigners and dressed in civilian clothes. Everybody in the street
started to flee immediately," said Hussein Abdul-Abbas, who owns a cell
phone store nearby.

The police officer who reported the shootings in Mansour spoke on
condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the
information.

American soldiers arrived afterward and were not involved, military
spokesman Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl said.

Many contractors have been accused of indiscriminately firing at
American and Iraqi troops, and of shooting to death an unknown number
of Iraqi citizens who got too close to their heavily armed convoys, but
not one has faced charges or prosecution.

The wartime numbers of private guards are unprecedented - as are their
duties, many of which have traditionally been done by soldiers. They
protect U.S. military operations and have guarded high-ranking
officials including Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Baghdad.
They also protect journalists, visiting foreign officials and thousands
of construction projects.

The government, meanwhile, faced a deepening political crisis with
Saturday's announcement that anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's
followers were withdrawing from the Shiite alliance in parliament.
Al-Sadr's followers hold 30 of the 275 parliament seats.

The announcement, made to reporters in Najaf, means the Shiite-led
government can count on the support of only 108 parliament members - 30
short of a majority. However, it could probably win the backing of the
30 independent Shiite parliamentarians, as well as some minor parties.

Al-Sadr's decision will sharpen the power struggle among armed Shiite
groups in the south, which includes major Shiite religious shrines and
much of the country's vast oil resources.

But Shiites have shown signs of increasing frustration with militia
violence, much of it blamed on breakaway Mahdi Army factions and
criminal gangs and extortion rings.

American commanders in southern Iraq have said Shiite sheiks are
showing interest in joining forces with the U.S. military against
extremists, in much the same way that Sunni clansmen in the western
part of the country have worked with American forces against al-Qaida
in Iraq.

One of those clansmen, Sheik Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, was assassinated
Thursday outside his compound in the Anbar capital of Ramadi, just days
after he met with President Bush.

The U.S. military said an al-Qaida linked militant believed responsible
for his death - Fallah Khalifa Hiyas Fayyas al-Jumayli, an Iraqi also
known as Abu Khamis - was seized Saturday.

"We do not assess that he was operating alone, there is an
investigation and continuing operations that are focused on ensuring
that all people who were involved in this attack or in this murder will
be detained," said Rear. Adm. Mark Fox, a U.S. military spokesman.


Associated Press writers Hamid Ahmed and Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed
to this report.

© 2007 The Associated Press.