BAGHDAD — Ethnic violence here brought the country to 'the edge of civil war' when Shi'ite troops killed at least 55 Sunnis in a Baghdad
neighborhood. Witnesses said Shi'ite militia members, many of them
dressed as police officers, opened fire Sunday in the Jihad Al Gharbi district of
Baghdad.
"We've said several times that there are people who want civil war,"
Wafiq Al Samarrae, an adviser to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, said.
"Today, this country is on the edge of civil war, not sectarian strife."
Witnesses said Iraqi police and troops responsible for Al Jihad did not
respond. They said the Shi'ite attackers were members of the
Iranian-sponsored Mahdi Army militia who sought to avenge the car bombing of
a Shi'ite mosque on July 8. The Mahdi Army has denied involvement.
"Since the early hours of this morning, armed militias have moved and
set up checkpoints in the business district, near the bus station, and in
the Al Alfayn and Al Amana areas," Sheik Abdul Samad Al Hadith, a mosque
preacher, said. "They began to kill people according to their affiliation.
In other words, they began to kill any Sunni."
Officials termed the Shi'ite attack the bloodiest in the growing
sectarian violence in Baghdad. They said Mahdi Army fighters ordered Iraqis
to display their government-issued identity cards to determine their
religion.
The Mahdi Army fighters, wearing police uniforms, also established bogus
checkpoints, where they stopped and killed Sunnis. U.S. Army helicopters
flew over the Al Jihad neighborhood but did not intervene.
"The Interior and Defense ministries have been infiltrated, and there
are officials who lead brigades who are involved in this," Deputy Prime
Minister Salam Zikam Ali Al Zubaie, a Sunni, said. Al Jihad is witnessing
a catastrophic crime."
The killing marked the Shi'ite backlash against Sunni strikes over the
last two years. Until several months ago, the Shi'ites largely refrained
from retaliation.
The turning point came in February 2006 when a Shi'ite mosque in Samara
was bombed. For the next few weeks, Shi'ite militias embarked on nightly
killing sprees in mixed and Sunni neighborhoods.
Sunni fighters were quick to respond to the bloodshed in Al Jihad. Hours
later, two car bombs exploded near a Shi'ite mosque in northern Baghdad. At
least 19 people were killed. On Monday, a Shi'ite neighborhood of Baghdad
was rocked by a car bombing and 10 people died.
"This is a plea from the vice president to the prime minister to do the
right thing and protect the lives of innocent people who have become targets
for the militias amid the silence and non-intervention of some security
forces," Vice President Tareq Al Hashemi said.
