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Baghdad Arrest Sets Off Clashes
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| Contributor | ArmyDem |
| Last Edited | ArmyDem Mar 29, 2009 09:04am |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Newspaper - Washington Post |
| News Date | Sunday, March 29, 2009 03:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | American, Iraqi Troops Detain Leader of U.S.-Allied Sunni Group
By Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, March 29, 2009; Page A09
BAGHDAD, March 28 -- American and Iraqi forces arrested an influential U.S. ally Saturday, triggering fierce clashes in central Baghdad that threatened to disrupt a key pillar of American efforts to stabilize the capital as combat forces draw down.
As Apache helicopter gunships cruised above Baghdad's Fadhil neighborhood, former Sunni insurgents fought from rooftops and street corners against American and Iraqi forces, according to witnesses, the Iraqi military and police. At least 15 people were wounded in the gunfights, which lasted several hours. By nightfall, the street fighters had taken five Iraqi soldiers hostage.
The battles, the most ferocious in nearly a year in Baghdad, erupted minutes after the arrest of Adil Mashadani, the leader of the Fadhil Awakening Council, which is composed mostly of former Sunni insurgents who allied themselves with the U.S. military in exchange for monthly salaries that are now paid by Iraq's government.
The formation of Awakening councils across Iraq, which include an estimated 100,000 fighters, is widely credited with bringing down levels of violence in many Sunni insurgent strongholds such as Fadhil. But mistrust has lingered between the councils and Iraq's Shiite leaders; Saturday's violence put on display these tensions, which appear to be deepening. |
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