40 die in Baghdad massacre as Shia militia go on rampage

[araz5253]

One of Baghdad's most deadly sectarian pogroms, which saw at least 40 people, apparently all Sunnis, killed by Shia militants in a rampage in a Baghdad suburb last weekend, has further damaged sectarian relations in Iraq.

Witnesses said gunmen, some masked, set up roadblocks and stopped motorists in the mainly Sunni suburb of Jihad, near Baghdad airport, demanding to see identity cards. Those with Sunni names were shot dead; Shias were released.

The slaughter lasted several hours, according to Alaa Makki, a spokesman for the Iraqi Islamic party, one of the main Sunni parties, who blamed the Mahdi army, the Shia militia loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr. "There is a lot of evidence it was done by the Mahdi army," he told the Guardian by phone from Baghdad.

Mr Sadr, whose aides denied Mahdi army involvement, responded by calling for calm and reconciliation between Shias and Sunnis "for the sake of Iraq's independence and stability". But as evening fell, another 17 people were killed, this time Shias cut down by two car bombs near a Shia mosque in northern Baghdad.

The slaughter continued this week. On Tuesday a car bomb killed three and wounded seven in Baghdad's central Karrada district. Earlier the same day a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the fortified Green Zone on the western bank of the Tigris, killing five and wounding 10, as parliament prepared to meet a few hundred metres away.

Gunmen in Baghdad intercepted a minivan carrying a coffin to the Shia holy city of Najaf, killing all 10 passengers, police said. The attackers pulled up in two cars and ordered the minivan to stop in the volatile southern neighbourhood of Dora, police Lt Thaer Mahmoud said.

Police also said gunmen had opened fire on an Iraqi army convoy near Sharqat, 260km northwest of Baghdad on Monday evening, killing nine soldiers and wounding three.

Sectarian attacks have plagued Baghdad and other cities with mixed populations since the bombing in March in Samarra of a shrine sacred to Shias. But the weekend massacre at Jihad stood out from previous incidents because of its scale and the insouciance of the killers. Attacks took place in daylight and on several streets.

The militia were also said to have gone into houses and detained people. In one case a family was murdered and the house was then set on fire. A police lieutenant, Maitham Abdul-Razzaq, said 37 bodies were taken to hospitals and police were searching for more victims reportedly dumped in the streets.

Wissam Mohammad Hussein al-Ani, a 27-year-old Sunni calligrapher, told Associated Press reporters that three gunmen had stopped him as he was walking to a bus and asked him to show identification. They let him go after he produced a fake ID with a Shia name but seized two young men standing nearby.

The Shia owner of a supermarket said he had seen heavily armed men pull four people out of a car, blindfold them and force them to stand aside while they grabbed five others out of a minivan. "After 10 minutes, the gunmen took the nine people to a place a few metres away from the market and opened fire on them," Saad Jawad Kadhim al-Azzawi said.

The killings in Jihad followed tit-for-tat attacks on Sunni and Shia places of worship earlier last week. Mr Makki said these attacks were made by unknown "third parties who want to provoke violence and get Sunnis to leave the area".

Since violence developed earlier this year the Mahdi army has set up armed vigilantes to guard Shia mosques and prayer halls, known as husseiniyas. "Witnesses have been coming to our headquarters all day," Mr Makki said. "They say they saw gunmen emerging from a husseiniya. Some were shouting 'The Mahdi army is coming'. They warned Sunnis to leave the area. Some witnesses recognised well-known local Sadrists among the gunmen".

Mr Makki accused the police of standing by and watching the killing. The Baghdad police are largely made up of Shias, and groups within them are loyal to another militia known as the Badr brigades. Police commandos have been involved in running secret prisons and death squads, US officials say. The US ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, has been urging the new interior minister to purge the police of militia loyalists.

The deputy prime minister, Salam Zikam Ali al-Zubaie, a Sunni, called the attack "a real and ugly massacre" and blamed the Iraqi security forces. "There are officers who, instead of being in charge, should be referred to judicial authorities," al-Zubaie told the Al Jazeera television station. "Jihad is witnessing a catastrophic crime."

Sheik Abdul-Hadi al-Darraji, a senior official of the Sadrist movement, denied the Mahdi army was involved. He said the attackers put on black uniforms, which are often worn by Sadrists, to provoke sectarian tension.

In recent weeks tens of thousands of Sunnis and Shias have fled from Baghdad and other towns near the capital to areas where people of their sect are in a decisive majority. Most of southern Iraq is Shia, while the west is largely Sunni. While most refugees have had time to pack cases and even sell their homes in a slow-motion sectarian version of "ethnic cleansing", what happened in Jihad resembled a pogrom.

Almost all mosques in Baghdad are guarded by sectarian gunmen. Makeshift barricades have appeared in suburbs, manned by vigilantes on a pattern last seen in the chaotic days after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

guardian.co.uk ©
http://www.theguardian.com/guardianweek ... 78,00.html

[AMAFHH]

What is the date on this News ?

[fayyaaz]

What is the date on this News ?

This event happened last year in October (as per Google search). But the date is not important. It happens all the time. The Sunni and Shia fanatics have been at one another's throats for most of the 1400 years of Muslim History.

They both believe that they are God's chosen and have God's mandate to murder those who do not believe like them.

Even on this forum, on one side, we have Yazid-loving Wahhabi and his extremist boot-lickers such as araz5253; and on the other side we have _____. Fill in the blanks.

[anajmi]

Fools like biradar and fayyaaz?

[anajmi]

On this board, most of the times, I have argued with pretend shias, pretend atheists, and actual fools rather than actual shias. Before we had another atheist/shia-pretender-but-truly-idol-worshipper called porus. Now we have another pretender called fayyaaz. Biradar is a god hater but has no problem bowing down in front of corrupt humans. Then there was a fart and an average moron who was also an atheist. I have gone up against Humsafar also many times. Most Dai worshippers don't last long cause they don't have a strong ground to stand on. It gets pulled from under their feet pretty quick. The common thread amongst them is that they have a one word very well memorized - "Wahhabi". Every argument begins and ends with that.

[KA786110]

What is the date on this News ?

Good question? Look at who posted the article. A lame attempt to divert attention from what happened in Peshawar a day ago.

[Critical_Thinker]

On this board, most of the times, I have argued with pretend shias, pretend atheists, and actual fools rather than actual shias. Before we had another atheist/shia-pretender-but-truly-idol-worshipper called porus. Now we have another pretender called fayyaaz. Biradar is a god hater but has no problem bowing down in front of corrupt humans. Then there was a fart and an average moron who was also an atheist. I have gone up against Humsafar also many times. Most Dai worshippers don't last long cause they don't have a strong ground to stand on. It gets pulled from under their feet pretty quick. The common thread amongst them is that they have a one word very well memorized - "Wahhabi". Every argument begins and ends with that.

Yes, you do argue with everyone who isnt a yazid loving wahhabi kafir like you.
And you lose the argument every time.

[araz5253]

CT so you have become a Takfiri Militant?