<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/23/international/worldspecial/23iraq.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print&position=>
The New York Times March 23, 2005 Iraqi Civilians Fight Back Against Insurgents By ROBERT F. WORTH BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 22 - Ordinary Iraqis rarely strike back at the insurgents who terrorize their country. But just before noon on Tuesday, a carpenter named Dhia saw a troop of masked gunmen with grenades coming toward his shop here and decided he had had enough. As the gunmen emerged from their cars, Dhia and his young relatives shouldered their Kalashnikov rifles and opened fire, the police and witnesses said. In the fierce gun battle that followed, three of the insurgents were killed, and the rest fled just after the police arrived. Two of Dhia's nephews and a bystander were wounded, the police said. "We attacked them before they attacked us," said Dhia, 35, his face still contorted with rage and excitement, as he stood barefoot outside his home a few hours after the battle, a 9-millimeter pistol in his hand. He would not give his last name. "We killed three of those who call themselves the mujahedeen," he said. "I am waiting for the rest of them to come, and we will show them." It was the first time that private citizens are known to have retaliated successfully against the insurgents. There have been anecdotal reports of residents shooting at attackers after a bombing or an assassination. But the gun battle on Tuesday erupted in full view of at least a dozen witnesses, including a Justice Ministry official who lives nearby. The battle was the latest sign that Iraqis may be willing to start standing up against the attacks that leave dozens dead here nearly every week. After a suicide bombing in Hilla last month that killed 136 people, including a number of women and children, hundreds of residents demonstrated in front of the city hall every day for almost a week, chanting slogans against terrorism. Last week a smaller but similar rally took place in Firdos Square in downtown Baghdad. Another demonstration in the capital is scheduled for Wednesday. Like many of the attacks here, Tuesday's fight had sectarian overtones. Dhia and his family are Shiite Arabs, and they cook for religious festivals at the Shiite Husseiniya Mosque across from his shop. The insurgents are largely Sunni Arabs, and they have aimed dozens of attacks at Shiite figures, celebrations and even funerals. The conflict has grown sharper in the last year, with Shiites dominating Iraq's new police force and army and holding a narrow majority in the newly elected national assembly. In the past, Shiite religious leaders have counseled against revenge after attacks. But there are indications that some are no longer willing to turn the other cheek. Last fall an armed group called the Anger Brigade was formed after attacks on Shiite pilgrims south of Baghdad. Elsewhere in Iraq, insurgents continued their campaign of violence. In the northern city of Mosul, 4 civilians were killed Tuesday morning and 14 were wounded when a roadside bomb detonated near an American military convoy, health officials said. The bomb did not appear to harm the convoy, witnesses said, but destroyed four or five civilian cars that were passing near it on the Sunharib bridge in the city center. On Monday evening in Mosul, 17 insurgents were killed in a gun battle after they ambushed a convoy of Iraqi security officers, The Associated Press reported. In Anbar Province, the violence-plagued area west of Baghdad, gunmen kidnapped six Iraqi soldiers on Tuesday as they walked to a bus station, The A.P. reported. Dhia's gun battle on Tuesday unfolded in Doura, a working-class neighborhood in southern Baghdad where much of the capital's violence is concentrated. Killings and bombings have taken place there in recent weeks, and the police acknowledge that they have little control. Before the fight, an Interior Ministry official was gunned down in Doura as he drove to work, officials said. Witnesses saw the gunmen circling near the Husseiniya Mosque in three cars just before the violence started, said Amjad Hamid, 25, who works at the Justice Ministry. They stopped near Dhia's shop, across from the mosque. The men carried pistols and rifles, and one had a belt full of hand grenades, he said. They drove an Oldsmobile, a gray Honda and a red Volkswagen Passat. When the shooting began, Mr. Hamid said, his mother ran outside shouting his name and was struck by bullets in the leg and the ear. After the insurgents fled, without the Honda, one was left behind, the Doura police chief said. That gunman broke into a nearby house and hid there, holding the residents at gunpoint until his friends arrived and drove him away, the police chief said. The owner of the house, who spoke on condition that he not be identified, said the gunman had entered through the garage and made his way to the living room. "I heard the screaming of the women," the owner said, "so I went to see what was the matter, and I saw a man holding an AK-47." The owner said the gunman then shouted: "Keep me here for a short time until I can leave the area or I will kill you all. I don't want anyone to leave this room." They obeyed. The gunman telephoned some friends and stayed for about an hour until they arrived to pick him up. Before he left, the owner of the house said, he issued a final warning: "If you scream or call the police, my friends will come and kill you. They know where you are." Two of Dhia's nephews who were with him during the attack, one 13, the other 24, were wounded, family members said. After the police arrived, they recovered the bodies of the three dead insurgents, who were identified through documents in their clothing as Abdul Razzaq Hamid, Abdul Hamid Abed and Zaid Safaa, officials said. Hours later, Dhia was still furiously cursing the insurgents when he spoke to a reporter outside the front gate of his home, a short walk from his shop. A Shiite cleric standing nearby quickly told him to stop talking, and he went silent. Meanwhile, a group of armed neighborhood men stood watch on the roof of the house. "I am sure they will be back," one of the guards said. "We killed three of them." Layla Isitfan contributed reporting for this article. -- ----------------- R. A. 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