Violence escalates in Iraqi cities

BAGHDAD, Iraq – With U.S. forces surrounding a shrine full of fighters loyal to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the holy city of Najaf, and with Iraqi police talking of arresting the firebrand leader, clashes raged Sunday in the fourth day of a persistent and bloody uprising.

It was not clear, in the midst of the chaos and violence, what would come of al-Sadr or his militia, the Mahdi Army – named for the Shiite messiah.

A move to arrest him could spark clashes even more intense than those of the last few days.

Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and top U.S. military officials made an emergency visit on Sunday to Najaf hoping to end the Shiite insurrection, but their efforts failed and they had to be hustled out of town, the Los Angeles Times reported.

After arriving on a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter and traveling through the holy city in a convoy of a dozen heavily armored vehicles, Allawi met with regional Iraqi officials and U.S. military commanders in the city center. He demanded that al-Sadr’s fighters lay down their weapons, but his plea seemed to fall on deaf ears.

Some 415 Iraqis have been killed and 513 wounded during fighting that began Thursday, according to the Iraqi health ministry and U.S. military officials.

During Sunday morning fighting in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City, a U.S. OH-58 Kiowa helicopter made a “precautionary landing.” The pilot and co-pilot were uninjured.

At least four American troops have been killed and 22 wounded in four days of fighting, according to U.S. military officials.

The situation in Najaf, Baghdad and other battleground cities seems to be unraveling quickly, with mixed signals coming from Iraqi and al-Sadr representatives.

A senior U.S. military official in Baghdad said there is some thought that al-Sadr might not fully control his forces anymore, as his lieutenants act independently.

“We don’t know whether Sadr is directing this or not,” the official said, referring to fighting in Najaf and elsewhere. “It’s not a consistent, integrated operation that we’re seeing at the national level.”

The dynamics of groups fighting under the al-Sadr banner are difficult to document. Both Najaf and Sadr City have been at times impossible to enter.

In Najaf on Thursday it was possible to enter the Imam Ali shrine, albeit dashing from one street corner to the next during sniper fire. Two days later, the roads were blocked by Mahdi fighters in some areas and Marines in others.

Furthering the sense of upheaval in Iraq, the nation’s top Shiite cleric, Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, reportedly suffering from heart trouble, secretly left his Najaf home last week for London. A release from his London offices Sunday confirmed that al-Sistani is now in “a specialized hospital to undergo the necessary medical tests and treatment.”

Political uncertainty and heavy street fighting have threatened the Iraqi government’s authority. Not yet two months old, it has sought to project confidence but is looking increasingly ineffective.

On top of the persistent Sunni unrest in cities to the west and north of Baghdad and the Shiite clashes to the south and in the capital, there has been a rash of kidnappings targeting both political figures and businessmen.

The most recent high-profile victim was an Iranian diplomat, Faridoun Jihani. An Arab satellite news channel on Sunday broadcast footage showing both Jihani and his various forms of identification, including his passport. The kidnappers said they’d taken Jihani, who was traveling toward the southern city of Karbala, because he was trying to foment sectarian unrest.

In its latest effort to gain control, the Iraqi justice ministry announced Sunday that the government is reinstating capital punishment.

Murderers, kidnappers and drug traffickers are eligible for the death penalty. Also eligible are people endangering national security.

Government officials said they reluctantly renewed the death penalty, which had been frequently and summarily applied by Saddam Hussein but banned by the prior U.S.-led administration in Iraq, as an exceptional measure.

“The killers, the kidnappers, the evildoers who hinder the political process – those who don’t want to see a democratic Iraq – all these factors have led the government to reinstate capital punishment,” said Human Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin, a death penalty opponent who said he nonetheless stood in solidarity with the attempt to quell the violence.