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Distrust Breaks the Bonds Of a Baghdad Neighborhood
A herder tends his flock in the barricaded streets of Tobji, a neighborhood where Sunnis and Shiites long coexisted. Shiite militiamen have targeted Sunnis at checkpoints.
(The Washington Post)
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At 4 p.m., the normally busy streets lay quiet.
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Day Eight
At 10 a.m., the Mahdi Army and the Egheidat reached an agreement. The Egheidat would hand over some weapons to the Mahdi Army and pay the fasil. Each side would stay out of the other's section of Tobji in order not to inflame tensions. All sides hugged and congratulated, Jassam recalled. It seemed as if the Tobji they knew had united. "Even up to this moment, we still have feelings of brotherhood," said Amar Ali, a trader.
"It was a success," said Kahlaiaf, the Iraqi army commander. Sunni and Shiite mosques in Tobji announced the news over loudspeakers. Egheidat residents came out of their homes and handed out sweets and juice to their neighbors. Then "they brought a truckload of ice cubes and distributed to the people -- for free," said Ali Laith, 19, a tall, slim student. Later in the day, shops reopened and residents ventured onto the streets.
But at 7:55 p.m., a mortar shell struck the parking lot with the battered old cars less than 100 yards from the Sadr office. It landed on a rusting Volkswagen Passat, witnesses said, killing an elderly man and a child, and wounding others.
"There are some people who don't like for things to be quiet in Tobji," said Abu Ahmed, a shopkeeper whose store was less than 200 yards from where the shell hit. He asked that his full name not be used because of the potential for more violence.
That night, six Egheidat elders visited the Mahdi Army's representatives to assure them they were not behind the attack.
Day Nine
At 10:40 a.m., Nabil Ibrahim was open for business. Two women in black abayas and a girl were in his store. Did he think Tobji would slide back into violence?
"It's in God's hands, inshallah ," Ibrahim said. As he spoke, Haidar Muhammad Latif, 22, entered the store. He was short, with close-cropped hair, and wore a blue shirt. And he soon revealed his allegiance: "We are from Sayyid Moqtada Sadr's army," he said, using an honorific for the cleric.
He asserted that the mortar attack had targeted the militia and proclaimed "God is great" because the mortar did not hit the Sadr office. Asked who was behind the attack, he answered without hesitation. "I expect it was the Egheidat who did it," he said. "I wish I could trust them."
Two blocks away, a funeral tent was erected next to the parking lot.
Day 10
On this day, Abu Mohammed, still angry, was thinking about revenge. He, too, believed the Egheidat had fired the mortar two days before. But now he had a more pressing goal. He said he and his comrades had identified three Sunnis, including one Egheidat, who they believed were involved in the killings of the four members of the Mahdi Army, including his nephew. Now, he said, he was planning to create a death squad to carry out the justice the tribal negotiations didn't bring.
Asked how he knew the three men were guilty, Abu Mohammed said witnesses told him that the men were inside one of the cars that rushed the checkpoint. "We only take blood for blood," he said.
Asked if the three men lived in Tobji, Abu Mohammed replied: "Yes, they are our neighbors. Now their houses are empty, and they have fled."
