Reuters: Iraq Shi'ite militias clash with police again

[Eugene]

Iraq Shi'ite militias clash with police again

By Jaafar Abd Al-Sahib
Reuters
Saturday, October 21, 2006; 9:40 AM

SUWAYRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Gunmen loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr clashed
with police near Baghdad on Saturday, one day after hundreds of Sadr's militiamen
attacked police stations and battled Iraqi forces in a town further south.

-snip-

MILITIAS ATTACK POLICE STATION

Police Lieutenant Ali Naamah said the violence erupted in Suwayra after some 150
Mehdi Army militiamen armed with AK-47 assault rifles attacked a police station
in the Tigris town 45 km (30 miles) south of Baghdad.

He said eight gunmen died and two civilians were wounded.

A spokesman for Sadr's office in Suwayra said the attack on the police station was
a response to an earlier raid by U.S. military forces, backed by helicopters, on a
Sadr office. Hamid al-Zargani said the U.S. raid killed six people.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/21/AR2006102100292.html

[Zynx]

1. An organized militia attacking state security services...

If that's not civil war I don't know what is.

[Kagemusha]

2. State security services taken over by another militia.

Just FYI.

[bemildred]

3. The "police" are going to be sorry for picking this fight. nt

[Kagemusha]

4. I wonder how they know for sure Mahdi did the assassination.

The one of the police intel chief that started this.

Not saying it WASN'T them, but it's starting to be reported as absolute fact...

[bemildred]

5. What good are enemies if you can't blame stuff on them? nt

[leftchick]

6. Deadly clashes erupt in second Iraq town

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/10/21/iraq.amara/index.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Police and members of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's militia fought in another southern Iraq town on Saturday, leaving nine people dead.

A gun battle erupted in Suwayra, in Wasit province nearly 40 miles south of Baghdad.

This comes after an eruption of violence this week in Amara between police and the militia, known as the Mehdi Army.

Police said eight militia members and a civilian were killed in Suwayra.

An argument between a policeman and a Mehdi Army fighter sparked the incident.

The militia member was stopped by the policeman from driving along a road.

A quarrel ensued and then clashes started after the militia member called fighters.

A curfew was imposed in parts of the town and the situation is relatively calm.