BAGHDAD, May 4: At Ibn Al Baladi hospital in Baghdad’s teeming slum of Sadr City, about 30 devout young men carrying Kalashnikov rifles patrol the compound and scan for trouble.

Inside, like at other hospitals in the slum of two million people formerly known as Saddam City, religious Shias have stepped into the power vacuum in the wake of the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime.

“The area is very dangerous, overpopulated and very poor. They are many thieves and drugs. There are new gangs forming,” said chief doctor Samer Salah.

“When Baghdad fell and the looting started, the people from the Hawza arrived immediately and offered us protection.”

“We didn’t have any choice, the situation was too dangerous,” he said.

The Hawza is a powerful Shia institution based in Najaf.

Signs are emerging the religious Shias are following models set by other movements like Hezbollah or Hamas in the Palestinian territories by becoming involved in public affairs.

In his new office in the hospital’s basement, the Hawza security chief, Saeed Hossan said he came especially from Najaf for his mission. He insists they were invited.—AFP