World Tribune.com

Insurgency targets Shi'ite leaders in bid to stop elections

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Sunday, January 16, 2005

BAGHDAD — Iraqi officials said Saddam Hussein loyalists and their Al Qaida allies have launched an effort to assassinate Shi'ite politicians and their aides.

They said the Sunni aim was to delay elections set for Jan. 30, which leaders of the majority Shi'ite community have insisted take place on schedule.

On Jan. 12, Sunni insurgents targeted the network led by Shi'ite spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Sistani. Officials said two aides to Sistani were assassinated in separate attacks, Middle East Newsline reported.

Mahmoud Finjan Mada'ini, regarded as the leading aide of Sistani was killed in an ambush about 20 kilometers south of Baghdad. Mada'ini's son and four bodyguards were also killed in the attack.

Officials said Mada'ini, Sistani's representative in Salman Pak, had been the target of several death threats. He was said to have escaped at least one previous assassination attempt.

At the same time, another Sistani aide, Halim Al Afghani, was found dead in his office in Najaf. Officials said he appeared to have been killed.

"I would like to assure the Iraqi people that we will protect every citizen who will come forward to vote in the elections," Iraqi Interior Minister Falah Naqib said.

Sistani has supported the United Iraqi Alliance, a coalition of 16 Shi'ite groups which has presented a slate of 228 candidates for the new 275-seat National Assembly. The alliance was believed to be dominated by Sistani's Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

Officials said Sunni insurgents, aided by Saudi Arabia and Syria, were conducting a major offensive to torpedo the Iraqi elections. They said several of Baghdad's neighbors have sought to influence the elections by sending money and insurgents into Iraq.

Iraqi security forces have clashed with insurgents who tried to infiltrate from Saudi Arabia. Officials said four Sunni insurgents were killed and nine others were detained on Jan. 11. Najaf police commander Gen. Ghalib Jazairi said his forces captured cars filled with explosives after a four-hour battle.

"Under the intense Iraqi fire, the infiltrators were forced to move back inside Saudi territory leaving behind four dead, nine arrested, including an Arab national," Jazairi said. "It also led to the seizure of four booby-trapped cars that were ready to explode, as well as documents and explosives."

Shiites comprise about 60 percent of Iraq's 26 million people and have been recruited to vote in the elections. Sunnis, who make up about 20 percent of the population, were expected to boycott the polling stations.

Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan said Iraqi authorities captured more than 50 vehicles, 14 of which were filled with explosives and prepared for suicide attacks. Shaalan has cited Iran and Syria as the key supporters of the insurgency in Iraq.

"All the documents and evidence [regarding foreign involvement in the insurgency] will be announced prior to the elections," Shaalan said.


Copyright © 2005 East West Services, Inc.

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