Baghdad snipers kill at least 16
Snipers firing from rooftops and a cemetery today killed at least 16 people and injured 230 in a series of attacks on a religious procession in Baghdad, officials said.
Four gunmen were also killed as hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims came under attack when they walked through Sunni territory.
Health Ministry spokesman Qassim Allawi said: “The terrorist assaults against the pilgrims took place when they were walking through Sunni areas.” They were on their way to the shrine of Imam Moussa Kadhim, an 8th century saint.
He said at least 16 people were killed and 230 injured in the attacks in Fadhil, Haifa and Saligh districts surrounding Kazimiyah in north Baghdad where the shrine is located. The toll could rise, he said.
In one neighbourhood, security forces and Shiite militiamen in flak jackets were seen exchanging gunfire with hidden assailants firing from houses and buildings. Some of the attackers were firing from behind tombstones in a Sunni cemetery, officials said.
Sounds of gunfire echoed in the streets, as people ran to take cover. A cleric with a handgun was seen being rushed away from the scene by a security officer.
“I was walking and someone got shot in front of me. It wasn’t random fire, it was a clear sniper attack,” said Mohammed Jassim, 32.
He said he could hear the faint crack of the shots despite the noise made by the marching pilgrims. “People panicked and started yelling ‘it came from here, no from there’.”
The violence was not unexpected given the ongoing Shiite-Sunnis sectarian warfare, which along with the Sunni Arab insurgency has become the biggest challenge for the unity national government and the US. There are fears the violence, which is claiming about 100 lives a day, could lead to an all-out civil war.
Closer to Kazimiyah, the Shiites, wearing white shrouds to symbolise their willingness to die for Islam, chanted “God bless (Prophet) Muhammad and his descendants,” as they converged from all parts of Baghdad to the shrine.
Mindful that so many Shiites on the streets could be a target for Sunni insurgents, the government had deployed thousands of troops and forced private vehicles off the streets of Baghdad from Friday night until tomorrow morning to prevent car bomb attacks.
Still, trouble started early with the sniper attacks reported from 6am onwards.
Dr Qassim Al-Suwaidi of the Imam Ali hospital, where some of the casualties were brought, said all were shot in the head, chest, back and legs. In Fadhil, another Sunni district near Kazimiyah, Iraqi forces stormed a vacant building from where snipers were firing at the procession, killing two gunmen and arresting four.
Troops also exchanged fire with another group of people behaving suspiciously as they tried to approach the procession in Zafraniyah, killing two gunmen and arresting four.
Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, a Shiite, yesterday warned against turning the ceremonies into a political demonstration.
“We warn all those who use podiums (in mosques) to incite sectarian violence that they will be prosecuted as terrorists,” he said.
Last year, the government said about 1,000 people died during the Imam Kadhim commemoration when rumours of suicide bombers triggered a mass stampede on a bridge across the Tigris River. It was the biggest single day death toll since the US-led invasion in March 2003.
Shiites were prevented from mustering huge crowds at religious ceremonies during Saddam Hussein’s Sunni-dominated regime. But since Saddam’s fall in 2003, Shiite politicians and religious leaders have encouraged huge turnouts as a demonstration of the majority sect’s power.
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