Irak: Ekstremister bekæmper hinanden

Fra Reuters:

At least 21 Shi'ite militia fighters and two policemen were killed on Thursday when they clashed with Sunni Arab insurgents southeast of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry official said.

Another five policemen and 12 members of the Mehdi army loyal to nationalist Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr were wounded in the battle, which erupted after they tried to rescue a Mehdi Army member who was being held hostage, the official said.

"At least 21 members of the Mehdi Army were killed in the fight," a source in Sadr's office told Reuters.

Man vil måske huske al-Sadr som fundamentalisten, der to gange har forsøgt at bringe det sydlige Irak under sin kontrol med våbenmagt, og begge gange har set sin bande voldsmænd med automatvåben få lammetæv af amerikanerne. En journalist forsøgte sig dengang med at spinne den forhandlingsløsning amerikanerne foretrak (Sadr stillede siden op til valget i januar i år) som om Mahdi-militsen var for stærk for amerikanerne. Svaret kom prompte fra Brigadegeneral Mark Hertling:

"Softer stance? We took a hard line with these guys and killed over a thousand," Hertling wrote in an e-mail to the Associated Press. "Concessions? We agreed to stop hunting down what was left of the militia long enough for them to disband."

Fra kampene om den enorme kirkegård der findes i/nær Karbala husker jeg især et interview i Jyllandsposten med en maskingevær-skytte i Mahdi-militsen, der i ramme alvor mente, at han bare skulle trykke på aftrækkeren, så ville Allah sørge for at hans kugler ramte fjenden.

Med den taktik er det ikke underligt, at Mahdi-hæren også i denne omgang har fået tæv.

Henrik