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Quoting sources "close to the armed groups", al-Hayat claimed that the insurgents have acquired an improved version of the portable anti-aircraft missile. The ‘sources’ indicated that the newly-purchased missiles were responsible for shooting down four out of five choppers that the US Army has lost in Iraq this year.
No details were given as to the provenance of these missiles, or to the exact type that the insurgents are using. According to the paper's description, the missiles are a "new generation" of Strelas (the Russian name for SA-7), but that could refer to any of the improved versions of the initial system, or to the much more advanced SA-18 (Igla), a version of which is locally produced in Iran, and was successfully used by Hizbullah during last summer’s war with Israel.
The original SA-7, which was part of the arsenal of the Iraqi army, is a late 1960s design with limited effectiveness, especially against choppers: it has a very limited range, a dated guidance system and can be blinded by the sun or other heat sources. However, if the modern SA-18 is now in the hands of the Iraqi insurgency, it could constitute a serious threat to the US army that extensively deploys helicopters, many of which are virtually defenseless.
Al-Hayat also interviewed an expert who used to work for the Iraqi military industry, the expert said that the armed groups "with all their factions" are now "in possession of newer generations of weapons" (than the ones the Iraqi army had), including advanced explosives that can bypass American countermeasures, and longer-range rockets that were developed locally in Iraq.
Meanwhile, the abduction of a high-level Iranian diplomat in Baghdad is causing many speculations. Al-Mada said that the diplomat is the second-highest ranking employee in the Iranian embassy, and that he was abducted in the Karrada district "by 30 gunmen". Al-Mada said that an Iranian statement accused the Iraqi Ministry of Defense of being implicated in the act. The newspaper also said that the Iranian ambassador in Baghdad blamed Washington for the abduction.
Al-Mada quoted Iraqi sources who claimed that the kidnappers wore the uniforms of the 36th Battalion of the Iraqi Army, a battalion that, the paper added, is under American control. Az-Zaman reported that an investigation has been opened to find the missing diplomat and punish those responsible. Az-Zaman spoke to Lubaid `Abbawi from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, `Abbawi described the incident and said that the force that kidnapped the Iranian was intercepted by an army checkpoint, and that four of the kidnappers were arrested.
`Abbawi also said that one of those arrested identified himself as an officer in the Iraqi Army, and that "he works in a unit that is affiliated with the American forces, and receives its orders from the American military command."
On the other hand, al-Hayat spoke to a source in the Ministry of Defense who told the daily that the "officers who were arrested and accused of kidnapping (the Iranian diplomat)... were fired from the ministry for being implicated with the death squads and administrative corruption." Al-Hayat also said that Iraqi sources it has contacted gave its reporters contradictory information, some of which accused the arrested officers of belonging to a Sunni group, while others attributed them to a Shi`a militia.
Lastly, tensions in the city of Kirkuk are on the rise. Az-Zaman reported that a demonstration was organized in the city by Arab and Turkmen groups rejecting the plans to affiliate Kirkuk with the region of Kurdistan. Demonstrators raised Iraqi flags and signs that read "no to the division of Iraq." The demonstrators also expressed their refusal for the expulsion of Shi`a Arabs from the city.
Many Arabs were settled in Kirkuk by the Saddam regime and plans were made to resettle them in their ‘original’ areas after the American invasion. Shi`a leaders in Kirkuk told Az-Zaman that they have been in the city for over 30 years, and have no connections to their original towns in Southern Iraq. An Arab Seikh told Az-Zaman “we do not want another Palestine in Iraq, with all the refugees and expulsions”.
