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Front line returns to Baghdad

After mosque raid; City's ethnic mix is a potential explosive

HAMZA HENDAWI
AP

November 22, 2004

CREDIT: DAMIR SAGOLJ, AP POOL

A British helicopter flies behind a group of Iraqis approaching a checkpoint set up by Black Watch soldiers in the desert near Camp Dogwood, 40 kilometres south of Baghdad. British forces have stepped up security after several incidents involving suicide bombers.

The U.S.-Iraqi raid on the Abu Hanifa mosque - one of the most revered sites for Sunni Muslims - spawned a weekend of street battles, assassinations and a rash of bombings that changed Baghdad. The capital, for months a city of unrelenting but sporadic violence, has taken on the look of a battlefield.

The chaos has fanned sectarian tension and deepened Sunni distrust of interim Iraqi prime minister Ayad Allawi, a Shiite installed by the United States five months ago. It has also heightened the anxiety of the city's 6 million people - already worn down by years of sanctions and tyranny, then war, military occupation, crime and deprivation.

'Baghdad is now a battlefield and we are in the middle of it,' said Qasim al-Sabti, an artist who kept his children home from school Saturday, which is a work day in Iraq. When he sent his children back to school yesterday, the teachers didn't show up.

In a sign of public unease, merchants in the outdoor markets, where most people buy their meat, vegetables and household supplies, say crowds are below normal. Many shops near sites of car bombings have closed.

Adding to the sense of unease, U.S. military helicopters have begun flying lower over the city. The distant roar of jets has become a fixture of Baghdad at night.

The latest escalation appeared to have been triggered by a U.S.-Iraqi raid Friday on the Abu Hanifa mosque in the Sunni neighbourhood of Azamiyah as worshippers were leaving after midday prayers. Witnesses said three people were killed, and 40 were arrested.

The next day, heavy street fighting erupted in Azamiyah between U.S. and Iraqi forces and Sunni insurgents who tried to storm a police station. The fighting, involving mortars, rocket propelled grenades and roadside bombs, raged for several hours and left several stores ablaze, according to witnesses.

Almost simultaneously, clashes broke out in at least five other Baghdad neighbourhoods. In all, at least 10 people, including one U.S. soldier, were killed throughout the capital Saturday.

Lt.-Col. James Hutton, a spokesperson for the U.S. army division in charge of security in Baghdad, acknowledged that there has been an increase in insurgent activity in the capital.

But he linked the increase to the fighting in Fallujah, where U.S. troops are still fighting pockets of resistance after recapturing the city last week, rather than the raid on the mosque.

Baghdad's population is a potentially explosive mix of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds. With frustration mounting over soaring crime, unemployment and poor services, Allawi can ill-afford to allow Baghdad to descend further into chaos.

The signs, however, are not encouraging. With the national election only two months away, the rivalry between ethnic and religious groups is intensifying.

Adding to the public discontent is a fuel shortage - ironic in a country with some of the world's largest petroleum reserves. Motorists must line up for hours behind hundreds of other cars at gasoline stations throughout the city.

Electricity supplies remain erratic, with frequent outages plaguing the city. Residents of some Baghdad neighbourhoods complain there has been no garbage collection for weeks, leaving them no choice but to burn refuse. A nighttime curfew imposed this month under a 60-day state of emergency empties the city shortly after sunset.

Tensions are likely to sharpen as the election date approaches. The ballot is expected to confirm the domination of Iraq's Shiite community.

The Gazette (Montreal) 2004