Islamic militants in Iraq are strengthening their grip on the insurgent stronghold of Falluja, four months after American commanders struck a ceasefire deal that was supposed to pacify the city and return it to government control, residents said on Friday.
Militants have imposed religious law on communities, issuing edicts and executing those accused of spying and even stealing.
United States patrols no longer enter the city, 64km west of Baghdad, and the Falluja Brigade, a government force established in May to maintain security, was disbanded this week.
Large areas of Falluja are now entirely under the control of the insurgents, while other parts are patrolled by police units that sympathise with the militants.
A mujahideen shura (or council) has been established, bringing together about 20 leaders from various insurgent groups, often with different aims and tactics. Together, they organise guerrilla tactics against US troops and enforce a hardline Islamic rule of law.
”Nobody can say they are controlling Falluja,” said Muhammad Hassan al-Balwa, a businessman who was the head of the city council until he resigned when the US launched a major military operation against Falluja in April.
”There are many sectors of power and there is nothing in common between their aims and their slogans.”
”I told the Americans, ‘If the people do not see any change then the resistance will become bigger and stronger’.”
He said the insurgents were divided into three groups: the largest comprises Islamist militants, some following an extremely hardline vision similar to the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan, in which they seek to establish an Islamist caliphate, a second group contains former Ba’ath party members, particularly from the military and elite security forces, and the third is made up of tribal nationalists fighting military occupation.
All three agree they want the US military to withdraw from Iraq, but their visions of the country after occupation are unclear and often at odds with each other.
For the past year, the city has been at the centre of the Sunni Muslim insurgency that has shaken the US military occupation. More than 600 Iraqis were killed when US troops launched a three-week offensive there in April, but this failed to curb the militancy.
”Falluja is sitting on a volcano, and unless someone tries to release the pressure from the inside it will explode,” said Dr Balwa.
Earlier this week, seven US marines and three Iraqi national guard soldiers were killed just outside Falluja when their convoy was attacked by a car bomber. It was the heaviest death toll in a single attack for months.
For three consecutive days this week, the US military has bombed houses in Falluja, targeting what it describes as safe houses linked to the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is blamed for many of the car bombings and assassinations of the past year. But at the same time, the insurgency has imposed its own law within its community.
Several people have been executed for stealing and robbery, said Balwa. Edicts have been issued against theft and car-jacking. For some Iraqis, security has improved. But those seen as collaborators or spies have been punished with kidnapping and execution.
On Wednesday, Bassem Muhammad Munajed, the deputy governor of al-Anbar province, which includes Falluja, was kidnapped from his home by masked gunmen. Last month, the militants forced the provincial governor, Abdul Karim Birjis, into a humiliating resignation after his three sons were kidnapped.
Days later, US marines arrested the provincial police chief, Ja’adan Muhammad Alwan, who had defected under threat to the insurgency. US military officials said that he was suspected of corruption and possible links to kidnapping and murder.
The militants also recently executed Colonel Suleiman Hamad Ifaikhan, the head of the 506 Brigade of the Iraqi national guard, which was based in Falluja.
Some observers say the city has become a focal point for foreign anti-American fighters coming to Iraq from states such as Syria and Saudi Arabia.
”Half the people of Falluja don’t like these people being there,” said Sadeq al-Moussawi, a member of the Monarchy party, which has strong connections with local tribes. ”If we want to finish this off, we need intelligence to give us information about each house they use, but the intelligence men they use are from Saddam’s regime and we can’t trust them.”
Other towns have gone the same way as Falluja. US troops no longer patrol in Ramadi, 32km to the west, nor in Tal Afar, a small town just west of Mosul in the north. US troops entered Samarra, just north of Baghdad, only on Thursday for the first time in weeks after an agreement with local officials.
To accompany their growing position of strength, Falluja’s militants have released a macabre video disc, sold in markets in Falluja and Baghdad, showing prominent captives of the insurgents.
One scene shows the sobbing resignation of the provincial governor, Birjis. However, the most disturbing scene, presented by a hardline group said to be run by Zarqawi, shows the execution of an Egyptian man who gives his name as Muhammad Fauzi Abdul AÃÂal Mutwali.
He admits spying for the Americans in Falluja and says he was given 45 computer chips that he was told to place in target houses to direct US air strikes. For each chip planted, he was paid $150.
Three men stand behind the Egyptian — two armed with Kalashnikovs and the third with a knife. ”Blessings and peace upon he who implements the judgement by the sword,” says the third man.
”We are on top of the shoulders of the unclean and the spy traitors, the police and the soldiers who are on the convoy of Satan. Here today we are taking the right of God by slaughtering this criminal.”
He then leans forward and, with the words ”God is greatest”, beheads the Egyptian, placing his severed head on his slumped body. – Guardian Unlimited Â