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Iraq's Sadr Faults U.S. For Poverty, Violence
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The concern over militia activity was heightened by the string of bombings against Shiite targets this week, including two massive truck bombs that exploded in Tall Afar, in the north, and the bombings in a marketplace in the Shaab neighborhood of Baghdad and in the town of Khalis, north of the capital. In the past seven days, a total of 714 people were killed across Iraq, according to Brig. Gen. Saad Abdul Rahim of the Interior Ministry, making it the bloodiest week since the security plan began.
"High-profile attacks, especially suicide vests and vehicle attacks, have increased by about 30 percent" during the security plan, Barbero told reporters.
In Tall Afar, 18 city policemen were arrested in connection with the slaughter of Sunnis following the truck bombs, said Maj. Gen. Wathiq al-Hamdani of the Nineveh province police. Also Friday, the U.S. military said one U.S. soldier was killed and another wounded when a roadside bomb exploded as the soldiers were patrolling in southern Baghdad on Thursday.
Some Shiite religious leaders in southern Iraq say they are not worried about a Mahdi Army resurgence.
"We have connections and communications with Moqtada al-Sadr, and we don't see any escalation at this time," said Ali Bashir al-Najafi, the son of one of the four highest-ranking Shiite religious leaders. "In fact, we are seeing that there are a lot of raids and arrests of his followers but he is always calling for self-control and to cool down the situation."
It was difficult to find the calm in Sadr's Friday statement.
"Here is a woman crying over her son, and another weeping for his own," it read. "Unemployment has filled Iraq, and destruction, instead of construction, is increasing. The occupiers did not find it sufficient, and strove to isolate Iraq from the Islamic and Arab world. These countries do not pay attention to an Iraq that is on the verge of destruction."
Special correspondents Naseer Nouri in Baghdad and Saad Sarhan in Najaf and other Washington Post staff in Iraq contributed to this report.
