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| Iraq | |
| Iraq releases 135 suspects in relation to Karbala bloodletting | |
| 2007-09-09 | |
| BAGHDAD - Authorities Saturday released from custody 135 suspects who were rounded-up in relation to deadly clashes in a Shia pilgrimage site in Karbala which killed 52 Iraqis last month. Reportedly, only 15 of the discharged were Sadrists. On August 28, Shias engaged in a deadly gunbattle near two sacred shrines in Karbala during an annual Shia festival as the holy city hosted over four million Shia pilgrims. According to police sources and witness reports, Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr’s armed supporters - enraged at being held back from visiting the shrines for security reasons - started shooting at Shia security forces, scaring the crowds of visitors. The incident was branded ‘the Karbala sedition’ and Shia clerics started accusing foreign forces and former Baath party supporters for causing the chaos that lead to the bloodbath. Al Sadr called for an official probe into the incident after imposing a six-month freeze on his radical armed followers known as the Mahdi Army. But warned of ‘retaliation’ if the investigation was not neutral or was unnecessarily delayed. When scores of Mahdi army affiliates were rounded-up in Karbala- related arrests later, Sadr’s office decried ‘bias’ and ‘injustice’ and Sadr himself shot back with another ‘ultimatum.’ On Saturday, the head of Karbala’s Sadr office Abdel-Hadi Al Mohammedawy said that the authorities released only 15 out of 250 Sadrists held in custody. Aqeel Al Khazaily, Karbala’s governor, said a special committee set to probe the incidents was still investigating, and was releasing only those who were proved not responsible for the acts of violence.
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| Posted by:Steve White |