Bombs killed at least 28 people in Baghdad on Thursday, but Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed his new crackdown in Baghdad would leave militants nowhere to hide.
In a speech to Parliament, Maliki urged politicians on all sides to support his security plan, backed by about 17 000 United States reinforcements, which is seen by many as a last chance to stem sectarian violence in the capital.
”There will be no safe haven — no school, no home, no [Sunni] mosque or Shi’ite mosque. They will all be raided if they are turned into a launch pad for terrorism, even the headquarters of political parties,” he said.
Maliki said his determination had already borne fruit.
”I know that senior criminals have left Baghdad, others have fled the country. This is good, this shows that our message is being taken seriously,” he said.
Some fear that militants may simply avoid confrontation in the crackdown, betting that eventually US troops will leave.
”There is a … concern they might be lying low, avoiding conflict now in order to fight another day,” US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said on Wednesday.
Criticised for not doing enough about Shi’ite militias linked to some of his allies, Maliki has vowed to take on armed groups regardless of sect or political affiliation.
”We have worked hard to get professional officers to lead this plan, with no political affiliations. So let’s all help these officers,” he said, answering criticism that the Iraqi army and police are infiltrated by sectarian militias.
Washington has identified the Mehdi Army, a militia loyal to radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, as the greatest threat to security in Iraq and has warned that the success of Maliki’s plan depends on him going after Shi’ite militias with as much determination as he deals with Sunni Arab insurgents.
The prime minister, who depends on Sadr’s political movement for support in Parliament, has been accused of failing to crack down on the Mehdi Army in the past, but officials in his Shi’ite Alliance say he has now accepted he must take action.
A senior member of the Sadrist movement, Bahaa al-Araji, pledged the group’s support for the plan in Parliament, as did the main Sunni Arab and Kurdish parties. The Parliament voted unanimously to support the plan.
No let-up
Since Maliki announced his plan earlier this month there have been a string of bombings and dozens of bodies continue to be found dumped in the city, apparent victims of death squads. Thirty-three were found on Wednesday alone.
A car bomb ripped through a shopping district in Karrada in central Baghdad, killing 20 people and wounding another 20, a police source said.
Another car bomb and a motorbike bomb exploded in other markets, killing five people, while a roadside bomb killed three, police said. Earlier this week a double bombing at a market killed at least 88 people in central Baghdad.
Two rockets landed in the heavily fortified Green Zone housing the government and embassies, provoking loudspeaker warnings to for people to take cover. The US military had no immediate information on casualties.
Maliki said Iraqi security forces would start to remove squatters from the Baghdad homes they have illegally occupied since the owners fled sectarian intimidation and ethnic cleansing.
”Today [Thursday] or tomorrow we will start arresting those who are living in the homes of refugees, to open the way for their return,” he said.
Tens of thousands of people, including Shi’ites, Sunni Arabs and Christians, have fled their homes in Baghdad because of violence and threats that have turned many formerly mixed districts into sectarian enclaves.
Maliki also rejected suggestions his security plan was a last chance: ”The battle between us and terrorism is an open-ended battle. It does not stop with the end of this plan.”
With US public patience running thin, US President George Bush’s plan to send 21 500 extra troops has met stiff opposition in the new Democrat-dominated Congress.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday voted 12-9 against the new war strategy in a resolution that is due for a vote by the entire Senate next week. — Reuters