.Iraq Shi'ite leader calls for security committees
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A Shi'ite leader has called for neighbourhood committees to provide security in their own districts, casting further doubt on the ability of Iraqi and U.S. forces to reduce violence levels in Baghdad.
Underlining the violence problems, police said up to 25 people were killed and 75 wounded in multiple attacks in a majority Shi'ite area in southern Baghdad late on Sunday.
They said the attacks, all at the same time, included a suicide motorcycle bomber, rockets and a roadside bomb which hit a market in the southern district of Zaafaraniya.
Separately, at least two mortar bombs hit an apartment building in the same area while a separate car bomb was exploded, they said.
One police source said at least 20 people were killed, while another police official said 25 were killed.
Hadi al-Amiri, a member of parliament and head of a Shi'ite militia, said such committees were essential because Iraqi forces still lacked training and were not ready to tackle militants and insurgents.
"Our forces are not complete to take on this wide terrorism," he said in a recorded debate broadcast on state television on Sunday.
It is not clear whether the process of forming the committees has already started, although young men in mosques are known to have been approached and asked to join them.
Amiri's remarks came as U.S. and Iraqi forces began an operation to claim back Baghdad's most dangerous rebel strongholds and disband militias in a bid to shore up confidence in the new Shi'ite-led government.
Earlier on Sunday, three people were wounded by a roadside bomb near a Shi'ite mosque in eastern Baghdad, police said.
More than 50,000 U.S. and Iraqi forces are taking part in Operation Together Forward. Similar campaigns have failed in the past but Washington hopes to cut violence significantly by the end of September.
U.S. officers now talk openly about the risk of a full-scale civil war unless they can calm conditions in Baghdad.
Haidar al-Mulla, a representative of the Sunni Iraqi National Dialogue Party, said in the television debate that popular committees just amounted to militias.
"We think that the case of popular committees is a manoeuvre around a law on dissolving militias," he said.
Shi'ite Islamist Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who took office more than two months ago, has vowed to crack down on militias as part of his national reconciliation programme aimed at uniting a country ravaged by rebel and sectarian bloodshed.
RISKY MILITIAS
But disbanding the armed groups is an explosive task because they are closely tied to political parties, including some in his ruling Shi'ite Alliance.
Amiri, whose Badr Organisation militia has been accused by Sunni Arab leaders of running death squads, said the popular committees offer a way of improving security. The group denies the Sunni charges and says it has become a political movement after fighting Saddam Hussein's government from exile.
"If the situation stays as it is, this will mean the continued existence of militias," said Amiri.
"I talked with the Americans two years ago and told them if the security file is not resolved there will be hundreds of militias, and now it has happened.
"Now all the guards of officials are militias, all the guards of parties and movements are militias, all the guards of companies are militias, all the guards of ministers ... are militias."
Amiri said security could be bolstered if Shi'ites protected their neighbourhoods and Sunnis guarded theirs while joint patrols could take charge in mixed areas.
Iraqis say Baghdad has been carved up along sectarian lines by militias who roam the streets, killing those who refuse to heed warnings to leave their homes.
Reuters
Underlining the violence problems, police said up to 25 people were killed and 75 wounded in multiple attacks in a majority Shi'ite area in southern Baghdad late on Sunday.
They said the attacks, all at the same time, included a suicide motorcycle bomber, rockets and a roadside bomb which hit a market in the southern district of Zaafaraniya.
Separately, at least two mortar bombs hit an apartment building in the same area while a separate car bomb was exploded, they said.
One police source said at least 20 people were killed, while another police official said 25 were killed.
Hadi al-Amiri, a member of parliament and head of a Shi'ite militia, said such committees were essential because Iraqi forces still lacked training and were not ready to tackle militants and insurgents.
"Our forces are not complete to take on this wide terrorism," he said in a recorded debate broadcast on state television on Sunday.
It is not clear whether the process of forming the committees has already started, although young men in mosques are known to have been approached and asked to join them.
Amiri's remarks came as U.S. and Iraqi forces began an operation to claim back Baghdad's most dangerous rebel strongholds and disband militias in a bid to shore up confidence in the new Shi'ite-led government.
Earlier on Sunday, three people were wounded by a roadside bomb near a Shi'ite mosque in eastern Baghdad, police said.
More than 50,000 U.S. and Iraqi forces are taking part in Operation Together Forward. Similar campaigns have failed in the past but Washington hopes to cut violence significantly by the end of September.
U.S. officers now talk openly about the risk of a full-scale civil war unless they can calm conditions in Baghdad.
Haidar al-Mulla, a representative of the Sunni Iraqi National Dialogue Party, said in the television debate that popular committees just amounted to militias.
"We think that the case of popular committees is a manoeuvre around a law on dissolving militias," he said.
Shi'ite Islamist Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who took office more than two months ago, has vowed to crack down on militias as part of his national reconciliation programme aimed at uniting a country ravaged by rebel and sectarian bloodshed.
RISKY MILITIAS
But disbanding the armed groups is an explosive task because they are closely tied to political parties, including some in his ruling Shi'ite Alliance.
Amiri, whose Badr Organisation militia has been accused by Sunni Arab leaders of running death squads, said the popular committees offer a way of improving security. The group denies the Sunni charges and says it has become a political movement after fighting Saddam Hussein's government from exile.
"If the situation stays as it is, this will mean the continued existence of militias," said Amiri.
"I talked with the Americans two years ago and told them if the security file is not resolved there will be hundreds of militias, and now it has happened.
"Now all the guards of officials are militias, all the guards of parties and movements are militias, all the guards of companies are militias, all the guards of ministers ... are militias."
Amiri said security could be bolstered if Shi'ites protected their neighbourhoods and Sunnis guarded theirs while joint patrols could take charge in mixed areas.
Iraqis say Baghdad has been carved up along sectarian lines by militias who roam the streets, killing those who refuse to heed warnings to leave their homes.
Reuters
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