The Long War Journal: Clashes ongoing in Sadr City

Written by Bill Roggio on April 27, 2008 4:17 PM to The Long War Journal

Available online at: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/04/clashes_ongoing_in_s.php

Clashes between the Mahdi Army and US and Iraqi forces continue in northern and eastern Baghdad over the weekend despite a call by Muqtada al Sadr for his fighters to cease attacks. US air weapons team killed seven Mahdi Army fighters in Sadr City on Saturday and early Sunday morning while the Mahdi Army attacked a police patrol in the Sha'ab neighborhood and launched mortars at the International Zone. Meanwhile, an Iraqi general has said Iran is involved with arming and training Shia terrorists to conduct attacks in Iraq.

The Seven Mahdi Army fighters were killed in four separate engagements in Sadr City on April 26 and 27. The Mahdi Army fighters were observed by unmanned aerial vehicles as they transported weapons and plant roadside bombs in the Mahdi Army stronghold.

US and Iraq troops have used unmanned aerial vehicles and manned helicopter teams to strike at Mahdi Army fighters planting roadside bombs and launching rocket and mortar attacks against the International Zone. The Mahdi Army took advantage of a sandstorm in Baghdad to launch 10 mortars at the International Zone on Sunday. No casualties were reported in the mortar attack. US manned and unmanned aircraft were grounded as conditions made flying unsafe.

Outside of Sadr City, Mahdi Army fighters ambushed an Iraqi police patrol in the Sha'ab neighborhood. Three police were killed and 14 Iraqis, including seven police, were wounded in a roadside bomb attack near a playground, Voices of Iraq reported.

The Sha'ab neighborhood hosts a dangerous Mahdi Army group led by Arkan Hasnawi. A brigade commander in the Mahdi Army, Hasnawi has been linked to multiple attacks on US and Iraq security forces. He was behind the kidnapping of Shia and Sunni tribal leaders in Diyala province in October 2007. His network was also behind the kidnapping of six Sons of Iraq from a checkpoint in Baghdad’s Ur neighborhood on Feb. 7. US and Iraqi forces fought multiple battles with the Hasnawi network in February and captured a key lieutenant during a raid.

The Sha'ab neighborhood (numbers 21-23 on the map) sits to the northwest of Sadr City (numbers 26-28). Iraqi and US troops currently control the Ishbilya and Habbibiyah neighborhoods (numbers 26 and 27) and have walled off these areas to restrict the movement of weapons and supplies. The Mahdi Army has used these neighborhoods to launch mortar and rocket attacks against the International Zone (made up of parts of numbers 50-52). Last week, General Abud Qanbar Hashim the chief of the Baghdad Operational Command said 82 people had been killed and 476 wounded in rocket and mortar attacks since fighting began on March 25. A large majority of the mortar and rocket strikes were launched from Sadr City.

The Iraqi government and military have begun to connect the fighting in Baghdad and the South with Iran. Major General Qasim Atta, a spokesman for the Iraqi military, said Iranian-made weapons, including rockets, mortars, and the deadly explosively formed projectile roadside bombs, have been used in attacks inside Baghdad. "We have found many Iranian-made weapons -- Katyusha and Grad rockets, and smart roadside bombs and smart bombs. We have also seized some documents and identified some people," Atta said. "In the past month 712 rockets and mortars have been fired. Most of these were Iranian-made."