Baghdad curfew as Iraq seeks to stem violence
IRAQ: Iraq's government put Baghdad under curfew on Friday in a bid
to stop sectarian violence among crowds from rival mosques on the Muslim
day of prayer, setting a critical test for its authority and its
U.S.-trained forces.
After two days of reprisal attacks on minority Sunni mosques
following Wednesday's suspected al Qaeda bombing of a Shi'ite shrine,
the United States and United Nations are backing efforts to avert a
slide toward all-out civil war that could wreck U.S. hopes of
withdrawing troops and inflame the entire Middle East.
U.S. President George W. Bush called for calm and the U.N. envoy
invited all parties to talks on a way out of the gravest crisis Iraq has
faced since the U.S. invasion three years ago; but top Sunni political
leaders pulled out of negotiations on forming a government from groups
elected in a ballot in December.
Shi'ite Iran maintained its fiery rhetoric against the U.S. role in
its neighbour; some suspect Tehran could try to divert U.S. pressure on
it by fueling trouble in Iraq, where Washington hopes a friendly
democracy would transform the oil-rich region.
Senior Iraqi officials said leading clerics, including the revered
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, were making strenuous efforts to rein in
Shi'ite militants - but one said privately he feared even Sistani might
be unable to control some gunmen, as evidenced by the dozens of attacks
on Sunni mosques so far.
U.S. forces, mistrusted on both sides and whose prospects for
departure Bush has staked on forging a stable, national unity
government, have adopted a low profile in the capital.
The largely untested Iraqi police and army will be in the front line
of Shi'ite-led government attempts to stop previously expected protest
marches on Friday over the bloodless but symbolic bombing of Samarra's
Golden Mosque and revenge attacks that officials reckon have killed more
than 130 people.
Seven U.S. soldiers were killed in two attacks on Wednesday.
Residents reported fierce clashes in at least two areas in and around
Baghdad overnight, both in areas where sectarian tensions are
exacerbated by communities in close proximity.
Outspoken young Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and Abdul Aziz
al-Hakim of the powerful, pro-Iranian SCIRI party joined calls for
restraint. But their respective and rival militias, the Mehdi Army and
Badr movement, have been out on the streets.
Competition for influence among these Shi'ite factions nominally
united in the ruling Islamist Alliance may play a role in how events
develop, analysts say.
"No one should move," one government source said of the curfew, which
was announced on state television. "Police will detain anyone who goes
out, even to go to prayers." Extending an overnight shutdown, it will
last until 4 p.m. (1300 GMT), after midday prayers, in Baghdad and
surrounding provinces where Sunnis and Shi'ites live side by side.
The 130,000 heavily armed Americans stand ready in the background to
keep order; some see them as the only real force capable of stemming a
full-scale assault by majority Shi'ites on Sunni neighbourhoods around
the capital after years of restraint in the face of Sunni rebel attacks
that have killed thousands since U.S. forces overthrew Sunni leader
Saddam Hussein in 2003.
"The issue hangs on the next few days. Either the gates of hell open
into a civil war or the Shi'ites will take more power," said Baghdad
political science professor Hazim al-Naimi.
"Only the U.S. military is preventing war in some areas."
A senior official in the Shi'ite Alliance said: "The question is how
long will the Shi'ite public keep on heeding Sistani and staying calm
... Things could spin out of control and then nothing will stop Shi'ite
anger if attacks continue."
Bush, keen for progress toward a troop withdrawal from Iraq before
congressional elections in eight months, said: "I appreciate very much
the leaders from all aspects of Iraqi society that have stood up and
urged for there to be calm."
Among Thursday's dead were 47 people, apparently both Sunnis and
Shi'ites, whom gunmen dragged from vehicles after a demonstration to
show cross-sectarian solidarity near Baghdad.
Baghdad, Friday, Reuters |