Post by Moses on Apr 17, 2005 9:54:57 GMT -5
Confusion surrounds Shiite hostage rescue
There are reports that hundreds of Iraqi troops backed by US forces have raided parts of a town south of Baghdad to try to rescue Shiite hostages from Sunni insurgents threatening to kill them.
A senior Shiite official in Baghdad said up to 150 hostages, including women and children, were being held since guerrillas in cars carrying rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s entered Madaen late on Friday and seized them.
Iraqis said relatives were abducted but a police official said the hostages could number as few as three, and an Internet statement issued in the name of al Qaeda's wing in Iraq said the crisis was fabricated to justify the raid by Iraqi forces.
Despite the confusion, the crisis raised fears of deeper sectarian strife in a country struggling to form a government that balances the interests of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds after decades of iron-fisted rule under Saddam Hussein.
Troops armed with machine guns and assault rifles moved to the edge of Madaen, about 40km south-east of Baghdad, and US troops cut off two bridges near the town today.
"Three brigades have been moved towards the area and this morning there were five from the Iraqi National Guard, the Ministry of Interior and multinational forces," Kassim Daoud, the minister of state for national security, told Parliament.
"Three areas where we suspected there were terrorists were raided but no one was found. There are other areas we will attack soon."
Iraq's caretaker Prime Minister blamed the kidnappings on Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq and said it was part of a plan to spread sectarian strife.
"Unfortunately, evil powers are trying to disturb the peace of our country, stop progress, destroy Iraq, keep killing innocent civilians and planning for the start of ethnic, sectarian and religious division," Iyad Allawi said in a statement.
Threat to kill
Sunni militant groups have carried out abductions before, once ambushing buses filled with Shiite soldiers and killing nearly 50 of them, part of a campaign Iraqi officials say is designed to spark a sectarian civil war.
A senior Shiite official has said residents of Madaen called him on Friday night saying their relatives had been kidnapped and were threatened with death. But no group claimed responsibility for the kidnappings.
Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq, which has claimed responsibility for many of the deadliest suicide bombings in the country, said in an Internet statement the hostage crisis was fabricated as a pretext for raiding the town and attacking Sunni Muslims.
"The infidels fabricated the case of the hostages. They are lying," said the Sunni group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The statement could not be independently verified.
Distraught Iraqis who said their relatives were among those who had been abducted gathered outside Madaen.
A masked policeman with an AK-47 assault rifle stood by the crowd of about 20 men and women.
Aboud Hussein said one of his sons, a policeman, was taken from Salman Pak and two others were dragged from their cars and kidnapped on their way home from work. They did not say when the kidnappings took place.
Majority Shiites, long oppressed under Saddam, are now the most powerful political force in Iraq along with the Kurds. Under Saddam, minority Arab Sunnis were favoured.
-Reuters
There are reports that hundreds of Iraqi troops backed by US forces have raided parts of a town south of Baghdad to try to rescue Shiite hostages from Sunni insurgents threatening to kill them.
A senior Shiite official in Baghdad said up to 150 hostages, including women and children, were being held since guerrillas in cars carrying rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s entered Madaen late on Friday and seized them.
Iraqis said relatives were abducted but a police official said the hostages could number as few as three, and an Internet statement issued in the name of al Qaeda's wing in Iraq said the crisis was fabricated to justify the raid by Iraqi forces.
Despite the confusion, the crisis raised fears of deeper sectarian strife in a country struggling to form a government that balances the interests of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds after decades of iron-fisted rule under Saddam Hussein.
Troops armed with machine guns and assault rifles moved to the edge of Madaen, about 40km south-east of Baghdad, and US troops cut off two bridges near the town today.
"Three brigades have been moved towards the area and this morning there were five from the Iraqi National Guard, the Ministry of Interior and multinational forces," Kassim Daoud, the minister of state for national security, told Parliament.
"Three areas where we suspected there were terrorists were raided but no one was found. There are other areas we will attack soon."
Iraq's caretaker Prime Minister blamed the kidnappings on Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq and said it was part of a plan to spread sectarian strife.
"Unfortunately, evil powers are trying to disturb the peace of our country, stop progress, destroy Iraq, keep killing innocent civilians and planning for the start of ethnic, sectarian and religious division," Iyad Allawi said in a statement.
Threat to kill
Sunni militant groups have carried out abductions before, once ambushing buses filled with Shiite soldiers and killing nearly 50 of them, part of a campaign Iraqi officials say is designed to spark a sectarian civil war.
A senior Shiite official has said residents of Madaen called him on Friday night saying their relatives had been kidnapped and were threatened with death. But no group claimed responsibility for the kidnappings.
Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq, which has claimed responsibility for many of the deadliest suicide bombings in the country, said in an Internet statement the hostage crisis was fabricated as a pretext for raiding the town and attacking Sunni Muslims.
"The infidels fabricated the case of the hostages. They are lying," said the Sunni group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The statement could not be independently verified.
Distraught Iraqis who said their relatives were among those who had been abducted gathered outside Madaen.
A masked policeman with an AK-47 assault rifle stood by the crowd of about 20 men and women.
Aboud Hussein said one of his sons, a policeman, was taken from Salman Pak and two others were dragged from their cars and kidnapped on their way home from work. They did not say when the kidnappings took place.
Majority Shiites, long oppressed under Saddam, are now the most powerful political force in Iraq along with the Kurds. Under Saddam, minority Arab Sunnis were favoured.
-Reuters