Militias Clash Despite Lockdown in Sadr City, Baghdad

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http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/3224/Militias_Clash_Despite_Lockdown_in_Capital

Militias Clash Despite Lockdown in Capital
Mahdi Army Fights US, Rivals; Curfew Blocks Information, but Not All Fighting
Posted 2 hr. 1 min. ago


In the aftermath of Wednesday’s bombing of the two minarets of a revered Shi'a shrine in Samarra, residents in Baghdad have told IraqSlogger that several heated clashes have erupted, under the radar, as it were, unreported by the major media, even in Iraq.

With a curfew in force in the Baghdad since Wednesday night, information has been scarce in the public sphere, and some residents believe that the government is attempting to control the public information environment after the bombing in Samarra. State-run al-Iraqiya television continues to report a calm situation in Baghdad, Slogger sources report, but the curfew has hampered the ability of other Iraqi news agencies to pursue their reporting.

Sources inside a major Iraqi newspaper told IraqSlogger that with the curfew, the distribution operations of the paper shut down. Without operations to bring the print edieiton to market, the whole operation is shut down. Major Baghdad papers have not brought out new editions since Wednesday morning.

The curfew was first rolled out at in Baghdad at 3 PM on Wednesday, but the authorities posponed the beginning of the restrictions back to 6 PM to allow Iraqis to return to their homes. Baghdad residents report that as soon as the curfew was announced, the streets became crowded with shoppers frantic to stock up on necessities before the clampdown of the indefinite curfew. In some shopping areas, “it was almost impossible for people to move,” one source said. As of Friday, the curfew had been extended through Sunday.

US papers also reported relative calm in the capital on Wednesday, and multinational forces have not mentioned sustained clashes in recent statements released to the press.

It must be stressed that the cycle of violent reaction and counter-reaction in Baghdad has not yet erupted on the same scale as did after the February 2006 attack that destroyed the Samarra shrine’s golden dome.

However, media reports and official pronouncements of relative calm also do not capture the full picture in Baghdad.

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