Scene of devastation greets returning Iraq refugees

02/24/2007

By Ammar Karim
Agence France-Presse


SALMAN PAK — When Hajj Mohammad found the home his family had been swept from by a wave of sectarian violence three months ago, all that remained was a fire-gutted shell strewn with wreckage.

"My father and grandfather lived in this house. It is now an empty hulk without ceilings because a fire set by Takfiris [Sunni extremists] engulfed everything," he cried, standing stunned amid the ruins. Salman Pak, a small town of 7,000 people on the Tigris River southeast of Baghdad, had become a bastion for insurgent fighters, members of Al Qaeda in Iraq, and other gangs who regularly attack Iraqi police with homemade bombs.

Residents say gunmen wearing masks killed with impunity, and Hajj would only give his first names for fear of being identified.

Iraqi forces are now trying to get displaced residents to return to the Baghdad suburb. Their efforts are part of a security plan called "Operation Fardh Al Qanoon" (Imposing Order), led by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and his US allies, that is to be enforced by some 85,000 new troops over the next three months.

Salman Pak lies between two highways connecting Baghdad to Iraq's Shiite south and its ports on the Gulf. It is renowned as the site of the ancient Persian capital of Ctesiphon, once the world's largest city. The famed arch of Ctesiphon, or Taq Kisra, still stands testament to the city's fourth-century splendour.

The town also once housed a germ warfare research centre as part of the drive for weapons of mass destruction of Saddam Hussein's ousted Sunni-dominated regime.

But authorities must now rebuild a town that suffered terrible destruction and was deserted by both Shiites and Sunnis. Historic sites were among the many places damaged by sectarian attacks.

"We are making every effort to protect displaced families as they return home," said Major General Abdul-Karim Abdul-Rahman, first division commander with the national police. "Terror and other problems pushed many to flee the region," he added.

The security forces face a huge task because the wide-open district is easily infiltrated by insurgents from other volatile regions.

"We are committed to protecting these people, be they Shiite or Sunni," Abdul-Rahman said.

Many from both confessions were displaced by the fighting in Salman Pak but the police commander said all would receive humanitarian assistance under a plan drawn up by the trade, electricity and water ministries.

He also promised municipal officials that his officers would help free local residents who have been detained and called on shopowners to reopen for business.

"We will protect the markets," the senior police officer said. "In return we want you to provide information on those who plant bombs that kill our children and security forces." Iraqi soldiers and policemen were already working on tips they had received.

"I pledge to revive vital utilities, hospitals, the bank and the court that have not functioned for more than four months," Abdul-Rahman said.

Among those that had just come back were Nuri Al Naur, a Shiite, who said: "I left with my five children three months ago and since then we have been living in a camp outside the town in harsh conditions.

"But there is still tension in the town. We will stay at home," he added.

Sheikh Sabah Al Ameri described how Sunni extremists had terrorised Salman Pak residents.

"Takfiris controlled the town, both Shiites and Sunnis. After destroying everything, they told us to leave or we would be killed," he said.

Sunni residents said the gunmen who had seized Salman Pak imposed harsh punishments such as whippings for those who smoked, and insisted mens' hair be cut a certain way.