- NAJAF, Iraq (IPS) - Iraqi
government lies over the killing of hundreds of Shias in an attack on Sunday
stand exposed by independent investigations carried out by IPS in Iraq.
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- Conflicting reports had arisen earlier on how and why
a huge battle broke out around the small village Zarqa, located just a
few kilometres northeast of the Shia holy city Najaf, which is 90 km south
of Baghdad.
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- One thing certain is that when the smoke cleared, more
than 200 people lay dead after more than half a day of fighting Sunday
Jan. 28. A U.S. helicopter was shot down, killing two soldiers. Twenty-five
members of the Iraqi security force were also killed.
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- "We were going to conduct the usual ceremonies that
we conduct every year when we were attacked by Iraqi soldiers," Jabbar
al-Hatami, a leader of the al-Hatami Shia Arab tribe told IPS.
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- "We thought it was one of the usual mistakes of
the Iraqi army killing civilians, so we advanced to explain to the soldiers
that they killed five of us for no reason. But we were surprised by more
gunfire from the soldiers."
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- The confrontation took place on the Shia holiday of Ashura
which commemorates Imam Hussein, grandson of the prophet Muhammad and the
most revered of Shia saints. Emotions run high at this time, and self-flagellation
in public is the norm.
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- Many southern Shia Arabs do not follow Iranian-born cleric
Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. They believe the religious leadership should
be kept in the hands of Arab clerics. Al-Hatami and al-Khazaali are two
major tribes that do not follow Sistani.
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- Tribal members from both believe the attack was launched
by the central government of Baghdad to stifle growing Shia-Sunni unity
in the area.
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- "Our convoy was close to the al-Hatami convoy on
the way to Najaf when we heard the massive shooting, and so we ran to help
them because our tribe and theirs are bound with a strong alliance,"
a 45-year-old man who asked to be referred to as Ahmed told IPS.
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- Ahmed, a member of the al-Khazali tribe said "our
two tribes have a strong belief that Iranians are provoking sectarian war
in Iraq which is against the belief of all Muslims, and so we announced
an alliance with Sunni brothers against any sectarian violence in the
country. That did not make our Iranian dominated government happy."
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- The fighting took place on the Diwaniya-Najaf road and
spread into nearby date-palm plantations after pilgrims sought refuge there.
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- "American helicopters participated in the slaughter,"
Jassim Abbas, a farmer from the area told IPS. "They were soon there
to kill those pilgrims without hesitation, but they were never there for
helping Iraqis in anything they need. We just watched them getting killed
group by group while trapped in those plantations."
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- Much of the killing was done by U.S. and British warplanes,
eyewitnesses said.
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- Local authorities including the office of Najaf Governor
Asaad Abu Khalil who is a member of the pro-Iranian Supreme Council for
Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) had claimed before the killings that
a group of primarily foreign Sunni fighters with links to al-Qaeda had
planned to disrupt the Ashura festival by attacking Shia pilgrims and senior
ayatollahs in Najaf. The city is the principal seat of religious learning
for Shias in Iraq.
-
- Officials claimed that Iraqi security forces had obtained
intelligence information from two detained men that had led the Iraqi Scorpion
commando squad to prepare for an attack. The intelligence claimed obviously
had little impact on how events unfolded.
-
- Minister of Interior Jawad al-Bolani announced to reporters
at 9 am Sunday morning that Najaf was being attacked by al-Qaeda. Immediately
following this announcement the Ministry of National Security (MNS) announced
that the dead were members of the Shia splinter extremist group Jund al-Sama
(Army of Heaven) who were out to kill senior ayatollahs in Najaf, including
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
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- Iraq's national security advisor Muaffaq al-Rubaii said
just 15 minutes after the MNS announcement that hundreds of Arab fighters
had been killed, and that many had been arrested. Rubaii claimed there
were Saudis, Yemenis, Egyptians and Afghans.
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- But Governor Khalil's office backed away from its initial
claims after the dead turned out to be local Shia Iraqis. Iraqi security
officials continue to contradict their own statements. Most officials now
say that the dead were Shia extremists supported by foreign powers.
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- The government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has
a pattern of announcing it is fighting terrorists, like its backers in
Washington. Many Iraqis in the south now accuse Baghdad of calling them
terrorists simply because they refuse to collaborate with the Iranian dominated
government.
-
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- (Ali al-Fadhily is our Baghdad correspondent. Dahr Jamail
is our specialist writer who has spent eight months reporting from inside
Iraq and has been covering the Middle East for several years.)
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- http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/hard_news/archives/iraq/000534.php#more
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