BAGHDAD, Sep 11 (IPS) - Clashes between rival Shia militas in Kerbala have spread across southern Iraq and Baghdad, adding a new dimension to sectarian violence.
Clashes between the Mehdi Army militia of Shia anti-occupation cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the Badr Organisation militia of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) erupted over recent days in the holy city of Kerbala, 100 km southwest of Baghdad.
Kerbala, with a population of about half a million, is a holy city, particularly for the Shias, as it is home to the tomb of Hussein ibn Ali, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.
The shrine of Imam Hussein is a place of pilgrimage for many Shia Muslims.
The recent clashes between the two powerful militias, which left at least 52 people dead and over 200 wounded during the pilgrimage, and led to curfew over the entire city, mark intensifying fighting throughout southern Iraq.
This was the first time that a major pilgrimage has been stopped in Iraq. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims had gathered in the city to mark the birth anniversary of the 12th and last Shia imam.
"Even Saddam did not stop our pilgrimage, but look at those
who say they are our protectors, killing us in cold blood," Kathum
Hussein, whose wife was killed when Iraqi police opened fire, told IPS
in Baghdad. "The guards who get their huge salaries to protect us just
started shooting as if we were insects, not human beings."
As
the fighting spread to Baghdad and other cities around southern Iraq,
National Security Advisor Muaffaq al-Rubaii told reporters, "It is the
Saddamists and the foreign fighters who did it, yet it is true that the
security forces were not well organised."
Many Iraqis are
outraged at the government's inability to contain the crisis. They also
say the government is making misleading statements.
"The ones
who started the shooting were the shrine guards who belong to the
Sistani militias (Badr Organization)," Iraqi political analyst Waleed
Ubaidy told IPS.
The fighting spread immediately to most Shia
dominated cities in Iraq, including the Shia areas of Baghdad. Dozens
were killed in fighting in Baghdad neighbourhoods like Sadr City, Shula
and Kadhimiya.
Just after the clashes broke out in Kerbala, the
Mehdi Army attacked several of the SIIC offices in Baghdad. At least
seven offices were set ablaze by Mehdi Army members in reprisal attacks
for what happened in Kerbala. Similar raids on SIIC offices came in at
least five other cities in the south.
Not long after the curfew was imposed over Kerbala, Sadr ordered a six-month suspension of operations of his militia.
"We declare the freezing of al-Mehdi army without exception in order to
rehabilitate it in a way that will safeguard its ideological image
within a maximum period of six months," read a statement from the
cleric.
Iraqi security officials in Baghdad blamed the militia
for attacking the men guarding the shrines in Kerbala. The guards are
believed to be members of the Badr Organisation, as the SIIC controls
the shrines.
Sporadic fallout of the violence has continued. A
representative of Sadr was beaten up and arrested by guards of Iraqi
Prime Minister Nour al-Maliki. The Sadr movement has accused Maliki of
taking sides with the Badr Organisation.
Maliki sacked the
commander of the Kerbala police operations' centre Major General Saleh
Khazal al-Maliki, and decided to run the centre through his own forces.
He also sacked 1,500 other police officers for incompetence, according
to the spokesman of the Iraqi Ministry of Defence, Major General
Mohammad al-Askari.
IPS had reported on clashes at Basra in
April between the Sadr milita and militants loyal to the Shia
al-Fadhila party. Clashes between those groups continue, besides those
that have surfaced between the Medhi Army and the Badr Organisation.
"This government failed us, and any similar government that is run by
these parties will not bring back safety to Iraq," Salih Allawi from
the Shula neighbourhood of Baghdad told IPS. "After leading us into
Shia-Sunni fighting, they are tearing the Shia community apart. They
have made us feel sorry for losing Saddam Hussein's regime, when
security prevailed in this country."
(*Ali, a correspondent in
Baghdad, works in close collaboration with Dahr Jamail, our U.S.-based
specialist writer on Iraq who travels extensively in the region)
News 
Subscribe to this comment's feed
