Iraq analysis

[Al-khiyal]

Baghdad mosques rocked by bomb attacks as 29 people are killed during Friday prayers

July 31, 2009 -- Bombs exploded near five Shia mosques in Baghdad, killing at least 29 people, in an apparent coordinated attack that targeted worshippers leaving Friday prayers. The attacks shattered a period of relative calm in the Iraqi capital, raising to at least 306 the number of Iraqis killed in what has been one of the least deadly months for both Iraqi civilians and U.S. troops since the war began. Seven American troops have been killed - the lowest monthly total since the war started in March 2003. The attack also underscores concerns about the abilities of Iraqi security forces to maintain security gains now that U.S. troops have withdrawn from major urban areas. Some Sunni insurgents still seek to re-ignite sectarian violence with the majority Shiites and reverse Iraq's security gains in the past two years.

The deadliest attack came when a car bomb exploded near a Shia mosque in the northern Baghdad neighborhood of Shaab, killing at least 24 people and wounding 17 others, according to Iraqi police. At about the same time, almost simultaneous explosions struck near the al-Rasoul mosque near the Jisr Diyala bridge, in southern Baghdad, killing four worshippers and wounding 17 others, the two police officials said. A roadside bomb exploded near al-Hakim mosque in Kamaliyah area in eastern Baghdad, wounding six worshippers. A bomb near Imam al-Sadiq mosque in the religiously mixed neighbourhood of Ilam in southwestern Baghdad wounded four, while a bomb near the al-Sadrain mosque in the Zafaraniyah area in southeastern Baghdad killed one and wounded seven worshippers.

Only three other months this year saw fewer Iraqis killed: there were 242 deaths in January, 288 in February and 225 in May. But U.S. commanders say security gains are fragile and reversible, and the Iraqi government needs years of further assistance. American commanders have also warned attacks could escalate ahead of national elections next year. The United States has about 130,000 forces in Iraq, with current plans calling for most combat forces to remain in the country until after the January 16 vote. Then, under a timeline set by President Barack Obama, all combat troops will withdraw from Iraq by August 2010.
American troops, though, continue to be targeted by insurgents. On Friday, rockets struck a U.S. base outside Iraq's second largest city of Basra, but there were no reports of casualties. Three U.S. soldiers were killed earlier this month in a similar attack at the base.

Questions about the Iraqi security forces were heightened earlier this week, when they clashed violently with residents of a camp north of Baghdad for exiled Iranians. Iraqi officials confirm at least seven people were killed and spokesmen for the exiles say 12 were killed and hundreds more injured in two days of intense skirmishes. On Friday, an American military medical team went to Camp Ashraf and evacuated some of the camp's residents who were wounded in the clashes, which began on Tuesday when the Iraqis tried to enter the camp to establish a police station inside its fences. The U.S. military and embassy officials did not immediately respond to questions about how many the medical team evacuated from the camp or where they were taken.

The violence at the camp, which was until earlier this year guarded by the U.S. military, has raised human rights issues and questions about how Iraq will balance its relations with the U.S., which has called for restraint, and neighbouring Iran, which wants the exiles sent back. About 3,500 ex-Iranian fighters and their relatives live in the camp, first set up in 1986 when they helped Saddam Hussein in the Iraq-Iran war. After the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, American troops disarmed the fighters and confined them to the camp. The Americans handed over responsibility for the camp to the Iraqis on January 1, but maintain a force nearby. Iraq has said it wants to close the camp, but human rights groups fear the Iranians could be subjected to punishment or even death if they are sent back to Iran. A camp resident, Hossein Madani, 49, said U.S. military medics entered the camp onThursday night and left Friday morning, taking with them a handful of injured residents. 'There were thousands of American forces here before. They should come back and take control of the situation,' said Madani, who has lived with his wife in the camp for seven years.

Meanwhile, Iraqi police today announced they had recovered millions of dollars stolen from a state-run bank in a robbery that left eight guards dead. Interior ministry spokesman Major General Abdul-Karim Khalaf said all the money was recovered and added that police have detained some of the robbers. He did not provide further details. Gunmen killed eight security guards at the Rafidain Bank, making off with nearly $7 million. Police said the robberies appeared to be the work of militants seeking money for operations after their funding was severely curtailed in U.S.-Iraqi military crackdowns. Police found the money on Thursday when they raided the house of an Iraqi soldier, said an interior ministry official.

[Al-khiyal]

Britain's Iraq war inquiry opens

[Al-khiyal]

Sunni mosque bombed south of Baghdad; 2 wounded

BAGHDAD, August 1, 2009 -- Iraqi police say a bomb has exploded inside a Sunni mosque south of Baghdad, wounding two people. Saturday's bombing comes a day after a wave of blasts targeting Shiite mosques during prayers in Baghdad that killed at least 29 people. A regional police official says the bomb was hidden inside a toilet in the al-Sahaba mosque in the town of Jurf al-Sakr. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media. U.S. officials have warned that insurgents will step up efforts to stage attacks in a bid to re-ignite sectarian violence that pushed the country to the brink of civil war before ebbing two years ago.

[Al-khiyal]

Baghdad bank robbers kill eight in £4 million raid

Army officers behind Baghdad bank heist: ministry

BAGHDAD, August 1, 2009 (AFP) – Two Iraqi army officers, including a member of the presidential protection unit, were behind a Baghdad bank heist earlier this week that left eight guards dead, the interior ministry said on Saturday. Spokesman Major General Abdul Karim Khalaf said three people had been arrested and that security forces were hunting other suspects after Tuesday's 4.8-billion-dinar (3.8 million dollar) robbery, one of Iraq's biggest ever. Those in custody were arrested on Thursday, he said. "The main man who carried out the crime is a captain in the Iraqi army, in the presidential protection brigade," Khalaf told a Baghdad news conference. "His name is Jafar Lazim Eshkaya al-Timimi." He said army Lieutenant Ameen Karim Zeyada al-Fadhly had also been detained in connection with the heist, and added that "another soldier was arrested and he is under investigation." "There are others being searched for," Khalaf added, telling reporters that the group had carried out the robbery for personal reasons. Eight police guards were found dead in the basement of the bank after the pre-dawn raid. At the time police said the robbers were probably insurgents looking to replenish their funds. Police also said it appeared as if the raiders had inside help, as the heist took place a day after a large cash transfer to the bank and no doors or windows were damaged. Khalaf said the money was found in a house in the central Baghdad shopping district of Karrada, the same neighbourhood as the branch of the state-owned Al-Rafidain bank that was robbed.

[Al-khiyal]

U.S. now a 'coalition of one' in Iraq

BAGHDAD, August 1, 2009 (AP) — The war in Iraq was truly an American-only effort Saturday after Britain and Australia, the last of its international partners, pulled out. Little attention was paid in Iraq to what effectively ended the so-called coalition of the willing, with the U.S. — as the leader of Multi-National Force, Iraq — letting the withdrawals pass without any public demonstration. The quiet end of the coalition was a departure from its creation, which saw President George W. Bush court countries for support before and after the March 2003 invasion. "We're grateful to those partners who contributed in the past and we look forward to working with them in the future," military spokesman Army Lt. Col. Mark Ballesteros told The Associated Press in an e-mail.

At its height, the coalition numbered about 300,000 soldiers from 38 countries - 250,000 from the United States, about 40,000 from Britain, and the rest ranging from 2,000 Australians to 70 Albanians. But most of the United States' traditional European allies, those who supported actions in Afghanistan and the previous Iraq war, sat it out. It effectively ended this week with Friday's departure of Australian troops and the expiration of the mandate for the tiny remaining British contingent after Iraq's parliament adjourned without agreeing to allow the troops to stay to protect southern oil ports and train Iraqi troops.

The U.S. military, though, said the withdrawals did not mean it was going it alone in Iraq. "We haven't lost our international partners. Rather, there are representatives from around the world here in various capacities such as NATO, military advisers, law enforcement and construction workers," said Army Col. John R. Robinson, a military spokesman at the U.S. headquarters outside Baghdad. Australia's military commander in the Middle East, Maj. Gen. Mark Kelly, said Friday the last 12 Australian soldiers who had been embedded with U.S. units were flown out of Baghdad on Tuesday, three days ahead of the deadline. A security detachment of about 100 soldiers will remain to protect embassy personnel. Britain withdrew its remaining 100 to 150 mostly Navy personnel to Kuwait, though was hopeful they might return. "We are exploring with the Iraqi Government the possibility of resuming some or all of our planned naval activity in advance of ratification," the British Defense Ministry said in a statement released Saturday.

The coalition had a troubled history and began to crumble within months of the U.S.-led invasion as many countries faced political and social unrest over an unpopular war. Critics said the tiny contingents that partnered with the coalition, such as Estonia, Albania and Romania, gave the U.S. token international support for the invasion. Mass protests were held in many countries, including Spain, which was one of the most notable withdrawals from the coalition. In 2004, a bombing attack in Madrid linked to Islamic extremists helped overturn the political establishment in Spain and the new leadership pulled out the Spanish troops. By January 2007, the combined non-U.S. contingent had dwindled to just over 14,000. By October 2007, it stood at 20 nations and roughly 11,400 soldiers.

The U.S. military, meanwhile, has increased its focus on redefining its relationship with Iraq under a security pact that took effect on January 1. American combat forces withdrew from Iraq's urban areas at the end of June and all troops are to withdraw by the end of 2011, according to the agreement. President Obama has ordered the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops by August 31, 2010, leaving roughly 50,000 troops to train and advise Iraqi security forces. "Today is a normal day for our forces currently in Iraq," Robinson said, "because our business is already tied closely to our bilateral partnership with the Iraqis."

[Al-khiyal]

Five dead as car bomb explodes in Haditha

August 2, 2009 -- At least five people were killed and 20 others wounded in a car bombing in a mainly Sunni area north-west of Baghdad today, police said. The explosives-laden car was parked near pavement sellers at an outdoor market in Haditha. The attack is the latest in a series of blasts which have raised concerns about the ability of Iraqi forces to protect the population as U.S. troops prepare to withdraw by the end of 2011. Haditha is in Anbar province, which was one of the most dangerous areas in Iraq until Sunni tribal leaders joined forces with the U.S. military to fight al-Qaida in Iraq.

[Al-khiyal]

10 dead people, weapons found in combing of river in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, August 2, 2009 (KUNA) -- Iraqi police found on Sunday ten human bodies and a large cache of arms during a clean-up operation of a small river that snakes through the eastern sector of the Iraqi capital. A statement released by the military operations leadership of Baghdad said military engineers of the ninth Iraqi mechanized division found the remains of ten people during the clean-up operation of the "army canal" river and handed the corpses over to the state forensics department in Baghdad. Large quantities of arms, explosives, hand-grenades, mortar shells and missiles were also seized in the mop-up operation. The small river, locally dubbed as the army canal, snakes through residential districts of the eastern sector of the city, namely Sadr City and other areas.