Back to Sadr City
Iraqi and Coalition forces raid one of Sadr's offices in his Baghdad stonghold
|
| Muqtada al-Sadr. |
The pressure on Muqtada al-Sadr, the Iranian backed leader of the Mahdi Army responsible for much of the sectarian violence in Baghdad, has been ratcheted up by Iraqi and Coalition forces. Just one day after U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad informed the press that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki "has agreed to getting rid of the militias," Iraqi and Coalition forces strike in the heart of Sadr's center of power: Sadr city.
The Associated Press reports, based a military press release, that “Iraqi army special forces, backed up by U.S. advisers, carried out a raid to capture a 'top illegal armed group commander directing widespread death squad activity throughout eastern Baghdad...' Iraqi forces were fired upon and requested backup from U.S. aircraft, which used 'precision gunfire only to eliminate the enemy threat.'”
|
| Map of Baghdad. Note that Thawra is now Sadr City.Click to view. |
Al-Iraqia television reports "a booby-trapped motorcycle, weapons and explosives were found during the raid." An Iraqi police colonel states four were killed and 18 wounded during the raid, while Reuters puts the number killed at 5. There is no word if the Sadr commander has been captured. Expect Sadr to run a public relations offensive, using the deaths to his advantage, as he has done in the past after raids on his offices in Baghdad.
The raid in Sadr follows yesterday's raids on Sadr offices in the city of Hillah, as well as recent fighting in Amara and regular operations against Sadr's forces in Diwaniyah and elsewhere in southern Iraq. The U.S. is continuing its policy of forcing Sadr to a decision point: disband the militia and enter the policy process as a legitmate actor, or battle it out openly against the elected government of Iraq and Coalition and Iraqi forces.
