[osint] Shi’ite Gunmen in Baghdad Ignore Truce

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080513/ts_nm/iraq_dc_15;_ylt=An.uN_2NmA8YzcQOkp
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Shi’ite gunmen in Baghdad ignore truce

By Tim Cocks and Waleed Ibrahim Tue May 13, 7:10 AM ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An agreement aimed at ending fighting in the Baghdad
bastion of Iraqi Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was on the verge of collapse
on Tuesday after gunmen launched a spate of attacks on U.S. troops.

The deal between the ruling Shi’ite alliance and Sadr’s opposition movement
in parliament to end fighting in the Sadr City slum district was formally
signed on Monday.

But with the ink barely dry on the 16-point pact, clashes flared overnight,
raising questions over how much control the anti-American cleric has over
some of the Mehdi Army militiamen who profess allegiance to him.

"It is clear that Sadr does not control all of the armed groups that make up
the Mehdi Army," Kadhum al-Muqdadi, a professor at Baghdad University, told
Reuters. "This fighting could last a long time."

A statement from the Mehdi Army leadership that was read out in mosques in
Sadr City late on Monday said the agreement needed to be respected,
residents said.

Nevertheless, the U.S. military said violence broke out between its troops
and militants in Sadr City overnight, where seven weeks of clashes have
already killed hundreds of people.

A Reuters witness said there had also been intense gun battles between Iraqi
security forces and militiamen on Tuesday in Shula, a Sadr stronghold in
northwestern Baghdad.

Iraqi police said 11 people were killed and 20 wounded in clashes in Sadr
City since Monday night.

They did not give precise details but the U.S. military said it had killed
at least three militiamen planting roadside bombs. U.S. troops were attacked
numerous times with small arms fire.

A spokesman for the U.S. military in Baghdad, Lieutenant-Colonel Steven
Stover, said U.S. forces only targeted militants launching attacks in Monday
night’s clashes.

"We’re not looking for a fight — we are establishing a safe neighborhood
for Sadr City residents," Stover said. "They (the militants) are obviously
not listening to any agreement."

The deal to end the fighting was announced on Saturday and welcomed by
Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. His crackdown in late March on
militias sparked fierce resistance from Shi’ite gunmen, especially the Mehdi
Army.

U.S. BLAMES IRAN

The U.S. blames much of the violence on rogue elements of Sadr’s militia it
says get weapons, money and training from Shi’ite neighbor Iran, especially
modern rockets that have been fired at the Green Zone government compound in
Baghdad.

Tehran denies the accusations.

Sadr’s political movement sought to distance itself on Tuesday from the more
unruly militia elements in Sadr City.

Bahaa al-Araji, a legislator from Sadr’s movement, said he believed the
Mehdi Army was committed to the agreement.

A U.S. military official said a surface-to-air missile was fired from
eastern Baghdad at a U.S. aircraft on Saturday evening. The missile exploded
harmlessly, the official said.

He did say what type of aircraft was attacked, but the New York Times
reported the missile was fired at a U.S. Apache attack helicopter. It was
launched after the agreement to end fighting in Sadr City had been
announced.

Maliki says operations against militias are intended to impose law and
order. Sadrist officials have accused him of trying to sideline the cleric’s
popular mass movement before provincial elections in October.

The movement, which boycotted the last local elections in 2005, is expected
to do well at the expense of other Shi’ite parti

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