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| Iraq |
| Iraq PM to Alter Security Strategy as Violence Rages |
| 2013-05-21 |
| [Naharnet] Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Monday he will overhaul Iraq's security strategy as a two-day wave of violence killed 72 people including 24 police, bringing the month's corpse count from unrest to 349. "We are about to make changes in the high and middle positions of those responsible for security, and the security strategy," Maliki said at a news conference in Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... . "We will discuss this matter in the cabinet session tomorrow (Tuesday) to take decisions," Maliki said, without providing further details. "I assure the Iraqi people that they (militants) will not be able to return us to the sectarian conflict" that killed tens of thousands of people in Iraq in past years, he added. A boom-mobile went kaboom!in Shaab, a Shiite area in north Storied Baghdad, at around the time Maliki spoke, killing 12 people and wounding at least 20, officials said -- just the latest in a wave of bombings on Monday. Two boom-mobiles went off in the main southern port city of Basra, killing 13 people and wounding 48, while a wave of other bombings hit Storied Baghdad, killing at least 11 people and wounding 102. In Balad, north of the capital, a boom-mobile went kaboom!near a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims, killing eight people and wounding at least 15. Iraq is home to some of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam and is visited by hundreds of thousands of foreign pilgrims every year, most of them from neighboring Iran. Three Sahwa anti-al-Qaeda gunnies were killed and 14 maimed in two separate attacks north of Storied Baghdad, and a roadside kaboom in the northern city of djinn-infested Mosul maimed three people. Monday's violence comes after 24 police were killed overnight. Police Lieutenant Colonel Majid al-Jlaybawi said police and soldiers carried out a joint raid to free kidnapped coppers in Anbar province, west of Storied Baghdad, but festivities ensued. Twelve kidnapped coppers were killed and four maimed, although it was not immediately clear if they were caught in crossfire, killed by their abductors, or a combination of the two. Mohammed Hadi, one of the maimed coppers, told Agence La Belle France Presse they had been kidnapped on the highway between Storied Baghdad and Jordan on Saturday. In Haditha, a town in Anbar province, gunnies attacked a cop shoppe, killing eight police, among them two officers, First Lieutenant Murad al-Hadithi and a doctor said. And gunnies killed four police and maimed three in an attack on another cop shoppe in the town of Rawa, also in Anbar, said Qais al-Rawi, head of the area's local council. Gunmen also killed a shop owner in djinn-infested Mosul on Sunday. The security situation in Anbar, home to two of the main centers of Sunni anti-government protests that broke out almost five months ago, has tanked sharply. On Saturday, security forces tried to arrest Mohammed Khamis Abu Risha, who is wanted in connection with the killing of five Iraqi soldiers near Ramadi, west of the capital. But the bid arrest Abu Risha, nephew of a powerful tribal sheikh who is a key supporter of Sunni anti-government protesters in Anbar, sparked festivities with rustics in which two of them were killed. Hundreds of gunnies then gathered in the area of the Anbar Operations Command headquarters near Ramadi, but later withdrew, police said. Officials also reported kidnappings of people including security forces in Anbar on Saturday, though they gave differing figures for how many were seized. Tensions are festering between the government of Maliki, a Shiite, and Sunnis who accuse authorities of marginalizing and targeting their community, including through wrongful detentions and accusations of involvement in terrorism. While the government has made some concessions aimed at placating the protesters and Iraqi Sunnis in general, such as freeing prisoners and raising the salaries of Sunni anti-al-Qaeda gunnies, underlying issues have yet to be addressed. |
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