Bomb Rips Through Shiite Slum, Kills 31

10/30/2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A bomb tore through food stalls and kiosks in a sprawling Shiite slum Monday, killing at least 31 people, while the U.S. military announced the death of the 100th servicemember in Iraq this month.

The 6:15 a.m. explosion in Sadr City targeted poor Shiites who gather there each morning hoping to be hired as construction workers. At least 51 people were wounded, said police Maj. Hashim al-Yasiri.

Sadr City, a stronghold of the Mahdi Army militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, has been the scene of repeated bomb attacks by suspected al-Qaida fighters seeking to incite Shiite revenge attacks and drag the country into full-blown civil war.

Ali Abdul-Ridha, being treated for head and shoulder wounds at a hospital, said he was waiting for a job with his brother and about 100 others when he heard a massive explosion and “lost sight of everything.”

The U.S. and Iraqi military have kept a tight cordon around Sadr City since a raid last week in search of an alleged Shiite death squad leader, who was not found.

Abdul-Ridha said the area had been exposed to attack because U.S. and Iraqi forces had driven Mahdi fighters who usually provide protection into hiding.

“That forced Mahdi Army members, who were patrolling the streets, to vanish,” Abdul-Ridha, 41, said from his bed in al-Sadr Hospital.

However, Falih Jabar, a 37-year-old father of two boys, said the Mahdi Army was responsible for provoking extremists to attack civilians in the neighborhood of 2.5 million people.

“We are poor people just looking to make a living. We have nothing to do with any conflict,” said Jabar, who suffered back wounds. “If (the extremists) have problems with the Mahdi Army, they must fight them, not us.”

The last major bombing in Sadr City occurred on Sept. 23 when a bomb hidden in a barrel blew up a kerosene tanker, killing at least 35 people waiting to stock up on fuel for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

October has seen rising civilian casualties and has been the fourth deadliest month for American troops since the war began in March 2003. The highest was November 2004, with 137 killed, followed by 135 in April 2004 and 107 in January 2005.

The U.S. military identified the latest casualty as a Marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5 who died in combat Sunday in Anbar province west of Baghdad, a hotbed of Sunni resistance to U.S. forces and their Iraqi government allies. The Marine’s name was withheld pending notification of next of kin.

Violence has rebounded fiercely since a brief lull during Muslim holy days last week that followed the end of Ramadan, coinciding with U.S. efforts to bring Sunni insurgents into a reconciliation process.

Last week also saw an embarrassing public squabble between the U.S. and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki over a schedule for achieving breakthroughs in security and political goals.

Political tensions deepened further Sunday when Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, the country’s ranking Sunni politician, threatened to resign if al-Maliki did not move swiftly to eradicate militia groups.

Mohammed Shaker, a key aide to al-Hashemi, said the threat was intended to send a message to the government over the rising sectarian violence. “We cannot live with this situation indefinitely,” he said.

Al-Maliki depends heavily on the backing of a pair of Shiite political organizations and has resisted American pressure to eradicate their private armies - al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army and the Badr Brigade, the military wing of Iraq’s most powerful Shiite political bloc, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

The gunmen, especially those of the Mahdi Army, have been deeply involved in months of sectarian killings in Baghdad and central Iraq.

The militias have also infiltrated the predominantly Shiite security forces, who suffered around 300 deaths during Ramadan, mainly at the hands of Sunni insurgents but also in fighting between police and militia fighters.

At least 26 policemen were killed Sunday. In one attack in Basra, gunmen dragged 15 policemen and two translators - instructors at the Basra police academy - off a bus at the edge of the city Sunday afternoon. Their bodies were found dumped throughout the city hours later.

Three other policemen were killed when a car bomb hit a patrol Sunday night in northeastern Baghdad’s Bunook neighborhood, police Lt. Ahmed Mohammed Ali said.

On Monday, unknown gunmen killed Essam al-Rawi, head of the University Professor’s Union and a senior member of the hardline Sunni group, the Association of Muslim Scholars. One of his bodyguards was also killed.

The association, which is believed to have links to the insurgency, has boycotted elections and other aspects of the political process that seeks to bring stability and end rampant sectarian violence.

At least 154 university professors have been killed since the March 2003 U.S. invasion, Education Ministry spokesman Basil al-Khatib said Monday. Hundreds, possibly thousands, more are believed to have fled to neighboring countries.

While sectarian hatred is blamed for some of those attacks, professors have also been killed because of past membership in Saddam Hussein’s now-outlawed Baath Party, or by students angered over poor grades or with other grievances.