The Hindu : International : Iraqi militants step up attacks

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 13, 2004

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International

Iraqi militants step up attacks

By Atul Aneja

MANAMA, SEPT. 12. At least 44 persons, including a producer of Al Araybia television network were killed in violence that rocked several parts of Baghdad this morning, amid fresh efforts by American troops to re-establish control over guerilla strongholds across Iraq.

Eyewitnesses said that Mazen Tomeizi (26), was killed when an American helicopter fired into a crowd of Iraqis cheering around a military vehicle that had been set ablaze during fighting in a street in Haifa — a stronghold of the Iraqi resistance in Baghdad. He also worked for the Saudi Arabian TV channel Ikhbariya. A Reuters cameraman was also wounded in the incident.

Al Jazeera television quoted an Iraqi journalist as saying that clashes broke out when U.S. military vehicles, firing stun grenades, entered the Haifa street, on the west bank of the river Tigris early this morning.

Firing on crowd

A U.S. helicopter joined the attack by firing missiles and other ordnance at the crowd that had gathered around a burning vehicle. Besides several casualties, many vehicles were set on fire. The sound of heavy machine gun fire could be heard for nearly three hours from the area, till American forces withdrew at around 7.30 a.m. (local time).

In one of the strongest attacks in Baghdad for months, Iraqi fighters fired more than a dozen mortars or rockets, close to the Green Zone, where the U.S. and other embassies, as well as the offices of the Iraq's interim Government are located.

The U.S. military said some of the rounds landed inside the Green Zone, but no casualties were reported.

Separately, a car bomb killed a senior police officer, another policeman and a 12-year-old boy on a highway in western Baghdad. A second car bomb detonated outside the Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad, wounding at least three persons.

Growing tussle

Officials said both the attacks might have been suicide bombings. In western Baghdad, gunmen attacked a police patrol, killing one policeman, the Interior Ministry said. In an earlier barrage on Saturday evening, rockets hit houses in southern Baghdad, killing five Iraqis, relatives said.

Analysts see the spate of attacks as marking a growing tussle between the Iraqi resistance and U.S. forces, centred over the scheduled elections in Iraq in January 2005.

While the guerillas are attempting to make the polls untenable by expanding and consolidating their hold over larger portions of Iraqi territory, U.S. occupation forces are desperate to prevent this from happening. Keen to re-establish control, American forces have subjected Fallujah to repeated air raids while launching a fresh wave of attacks on neighbouring Ramadi and Samaara.

Threat against Allawi

Meanwhile, the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, suspected of having Al-Qaeda links, has threatened to kill the U.S.-backed Iraqi interim Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi.

"We will make sure that the traitor Allawi gets his due. You traitor, stop pretending and wait, because we will know how to be more cunning than you," a taped voice, which sounded like previous recordings in Mr. Zarqawi's name, said on an Islamic web site. "Expect the Angel of Death, just when you think you're safe with your idiot friends in your Government. While you have your Christians, we have our Lord who answers our calls." The U.S. has offered a $25-million reward for the capture of Mr. Zarqawi.

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