Iraq’s Sunnis gear up against the country’s army
Thursday, 25 April 2013
A man fires a gun during a funeral for protesters who died
during a clash between Iraqi forces and Sunni Muslim protesters in
Kirkuk. (Reuters)
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Al Arabiya with Agencies -
Residents of a number of Sunni cities in Iraq have announced the
formation of “military forces” to counter attack the Iraqi army and its
crackdown against protesters calling for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki – a
Shiite – to step down, Al Arabiya reported on Thursday.
The
announcements come after Sunni tribesmen were called to arm following a
government sponsored military raid on a Sunni Muslim anti-government
protest at a camp in Hawija, near Kirkuk, on Tuesday.
Dozens of
people were killed and injured in the initial incident. It set off a
wave of revenge attacks that hit five different Sunni-majority
provinces, killing at least 110 people.
The violence is the
deadliest so far linked to demonstrations that erupted in Sunni areas of the
Shiite-majority country more than four months ago.
The
Sunni-stronghold province of Anbar on Thursday has also announced the
formation of its own “army” made from members from its local tribes.
“We have formed a tribal army that we named ‘The Dignity and Honor Army’ to
defend ourselves against dirty militias,” Ahmed Abu Risha, head of the
Iraq Awakening Movement in Anbar, told Al Arabiya.
The current
Iraqi army is made of “sectarian militias,” and the “real Iraqi army”
was the one that was dismantled by the “criminal” U.S. former official,
Paul Bremer, Abu Risha said.
Bremer was the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority of Iraq after the
toppling Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003.
Abu Risha urged Iraqi army members, hailing from the mainly Shiite southern
tribes in the country, to defect and not take part in the crackdown
against their “brethren” protesters.
Meanwhile, Al Arabiya’s correspondent reported an explosion in the Shiite holy
city of Najaf.
However, when asked about the latest blast report, Abu Risha said: “We are
against all explosions and terrorism in Iraq.”
There was also disintegration in the Iraqi army itself.
The Iraqi Member of Parliament, Sheikh Shaalan al-Karim, told Al Arabiya
that there were members from the Iraqi army who have defected and joined tribes
in the Sunni Saladin province.
The Sunni protesters have
called for the resignation of Shiite Maliki and railed against the
alleged targeting of their community by the authorities.
Clashes between Sunni protesters and Iraqi security forces heightened on
Thursday.
Iraq declared a curfew on yet another Sunni province, Diyala, Al Arabiya
reported.
The Iraqi police reported that about 41 people were killed in clashes between
gunmen and police in northern Sunni city of Mosul.
The anti-government furor has also led to the destruction of a pipeline
carrying crude from the city of Kirkuk to Turkey’s Mediterranean coast.
The flow of oil has been halted, sources at Iraq’s North Oil Company told
Reuters.
The attack took place in the northern city of Shirqat.
Anger over the spiraling situation
The head of the Iraqi List, a parliamentary bloc, has criticized the
government’s decision to involve the army in the anti-government protest in
Hawija on Tuesday.
Suleiman al-Gamili told Al Arabiya that the incident pitted the military
against the Iraqi people.
Iraqi Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi also labeled the incident in Hawija a
“catastrophe,” adding that the army’s action against the protesters
was a “flagrant violation of the constitution.”
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