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Soldiers control Amara as clashes spread
AMARA - Troops deployed to quell trouble on the streets of Amara on Saturday as the uneasy balance of power between Iraqs security forces and Shiite militias threatened to break down in violence. Government negotiators managed to broker a ceasefire in this southern city, restoring order after two days of bloodshed, but more clashes erupted further north as informal gangs of gunmen tested the governments resolve. The Iraqi army is on the main streets and intersections, said Shirwan Al Waili, Iraqs minister of state for national security, who rushed to Amara on Friday on the orders of Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki. The police are back in their barracks and there are no militia on the streets, he told reporters in the city.The medical director of Amaras health department, Zamil Al Oreibi, told AFP that a total of 24 people had been killed in the fighting and 150 wounded, a mixture of police, militia and civilian bystanders. Armed militiamen left the streets overnight, troops deployed in numbers and life was slowly returning to normal in this overwhelmingly Shiite city of around 350,000 people. British military spokesman Major Charlie Burbridge said 2,300 Iraqi army troops had deployed in Amara, with 700 more waiting just outside town, and confirmed that the police had returned to barracks. The situation is definitely calm, but its very tense. We suspect that there is a capacity for it to brew up again without any warning, he said. Posted by: Fred 2006-10-22 |
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