The Presidency of the Republic issued a statement Sunday denying widespread allegations by Iraqis in Iraq and Syria that recent steps taken by Syrian authorities to limit residency to Iraqis entering the country were linked to President Jalal Talibani’s visit and talks in Syria. The statement said that the actions of the Syrian government are a matter of concern to the Iraqi government since Syria was the only country that unconditionally accepted Iraqi refugees granting them up to three months of residency that can be renewed indefinitely, but Syria recently started offering only two weeks of residency to Iraqis, which prompted rumors by Iraqis that President Jalal Talibani had requested from Syria to restrict the entry of Iraqis fleeing the violence in the country.
Eyewitnesses told the Voices of Iraq Agency that a “foreign military patrol” opened fire at a civilian vehicle in the Allawi area of Baghdad, killing a female Iraqi journalist working for the Iraqi Media Network. A source from the Iraqi Media Network confirmed that Suhad Shakir Al-Kinani, a journalist at the Al-Atyaaf radio station, who was driving her vehicle close to the patrol, was instantly killed in the incident. Eyewitnesses were not able to identify the foreign force, with some describing them as American contractors and others as Australian.
Voices of Iraq also reported that two senior members of the Sadrist Movement were killed in two unrelated incidents in Iraq Sunday. Sheikh Khalil Al-Maliki was assassinated by unknown gunmen at Sa’ad Square in Basrah, south of Iraq, while he was returning to his residence at the Qibla district, according to eyewitness accounts. In Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, an Iraqi police source stated that U.S. troops killed Ali Kadhim, the director of the Martyr Al-Sadr Bureau in Diyala, in front of his residence at the Huwaider village, 20 km east of Baquba, with no additional details about the incident.
The Iraqi Rabita website reports that, in response to urgent calls from residents of the Sunni-majority Adhamiya, which has been under mortar fire for eight days in a row, U.S. helicopters struck two mortar teams across the Army Canal at the Ur district. The second source of fire was across the canal from the Tunis district, and eyewitnesses claim that the mortar team were in Iraqi Army uniforms and had official vehicles.
The Iraqi Rabita also posts a video segment that was aired on Al-Sharqiya TV (banned by the Iraqi government) that shows hundreds of Iraqi civilians including women and children among those detained in the aftermath of the battle at Zarga, north of Najaf, with the alleged Jund Al-Samaa’ movement. There have been widespread allegations of abuse and torture by Iraqi security forces against the prisoners taken at Zarga, according to several Iraqi websites.
Ayatollah Mahmoud Al-Hassani Al-Sarkhi issued a statement demanding an investigation and strongly condemning the military actions of the Iraqi government in Zarga against what he described as “innocent civilians and pilgrims, including women and children,” and the detention of hundreds more. Ayatollah Al-Sarkhi, who leads a similar movement that preaches the imminent coming of the Imam Al-Mahdi, and who is opposed to the U.S. occupation in Iraq and the resulting political process, said that he has engaged in theological debate with members of the Jund Al-Samaa’ movement, adding that this should be the norm instead of resorting to “violence” and “revenge” in dealing with groups of different ideologies. The office of Ayatollah Al-Sarkhi later issued another statement accusing the Iraqi government of detaining 30 followers of Al-Sarkhi in response to his earlier statement.
The mystery surrounding the events in Zarga last week spilled into Sunday’s parliamentary session when Speaker of Parliament Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani read what he described as a letter from leaders of the Hawatim and Khaza’il tribes in Najaf demanding an investigation into the “massacre against the two tribes committed by governmental troops.” Several members of the Shi’ite United Iraqi Alliance bloc strongly objected and accused Sunni MPs of falling for propaganda posted on “Takfiri Internet websites,” while MP Abdul Karim Al-Anizi accused the people behind the letter of “inciting terrorism against the Iraqi government,” and demanded Mashhadani to announced their names, which he refused to do. MP Omar Al-Jubouri, of the Sunni Iraqi Accord front, waved a printout with the names of the tribe members allegedly killed in the battle, asking why the government failed to confirm their identities with the Nationality Directorate. Sources in Baghdad say the state-run Al-Iraqiya TV cut the transmission from the session when the argument erupted in parliament.
Islam Memo reported fierce clashes near the Karkh Passports and Nationality Directorate close to the Green Zone Sunday after unknown gunmen attempted to raid the department.
