BAGHDAD, Sept 7: US-led forces stepped-up their bid to tame a turbulent Iraq on Sunday, giving Iraqi militias a week to disarm, deploying newly-arrived British reinforcements and lobbying for more international troops.
US Marines spokesman in central Najaf, Captain Edward Lofland, warned Iraqi militias they must disarm or face jail.
He said US troops had initially turned a blind eye to the militias bearing arms in the aftermath of the August 29 bombing in the holy city that killed 83 people, but they were now prepared to disarm them by force if necessary.
“The idea, initially, is we want to bring in the Iraqi police — it’s their town. We are here to support, not to control,” he said. US military action against the militiamen would be a last resort, he added.
He said the presence of militiamen from the two largest Shiite factions on the streets of Najaf and Kufa since the devastating car bombing was a clear violation of the ban on militias imposed by the coalition in June.
That bombing also killed the revered cleric, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim, injured another 82 people and threw the twin cities of Najaf and Kufah into a high state of religious tension with all sides angrily blaming forces loyal to Saddam for the tragic blast.
The deadline was imposed as 120 British troops arrived in two groups at Basra airport in southern Iraq during an unusually quiet spell in the war-torn country. Fresh troops bolstered the number of forces sent by London to 10,620.
DEMAND REJECTED: However, the armed militia of anti-US Iraqi firebrand Moqtada Sadr immediately rejected the US warning and set the stage for a confrontation.
Sadr supporters declared they would not lay down their arms and were instead prepared to lay down their lives for the cleric.
“We obey only God and our religious leaders. We don’t care about what the Americans say,” Sheikh Juad al-Issawi told AFP on a street corner here surrounded by four of Sadr’s militiamen armed with Kalashnikovs.
“Yes, they are prepared to defend their leaders by force, the proof is the mass graves of Saddam,” he said. “If the Americans try to do anything to harm our religious leaders that will be the end of the Americans.” The disarmament deadline applied not only to Sadr, but also to the Badr Brigades, the military wing of Hakim’s Iran-backed political movement.
It also applied to anyone else carrying weapons in public without a coalition licence in defiance of the arms controls introduced in June.
MISSILE ATTACK: Two missiles fired at a US military transport plane provided a new reminder of the hazards plaguing air travel in post-war Iraq which have kept the country’s two main airports shut to commercial traffic.
The two surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) were fired at a US C-141 transport plane as it was taking off from Baghdad airport, but missed. A source at the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) said it was the fifth attack at Baghdad airport since US President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat operations on May 1.
The SAMS were launched just hours before US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld departed from the airport at the end of a three-day visit and his aide, Lawrence DiRita, said the missiles detonated before reaching the plane.
TWO CHILDREN KILLED: Two children were killed in fighting on Sunday between Iraqi police and thieves northwest of Baghdad, witnesses said.
They said an 11-year-old boy and a nine-year-old girl were killed while walking in the main street of Falluja, 50 kms northwest of Baghdad, when police and a group of thieves exchanged fire.
There were no casualties among the police or the thieves, the witnesses said. Police arrested two suspects and charged them with looting cars and banks in Falluja and Baghdad.—Reuters/AFP