Radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's militia began slowly turning in weapons yesterday under a deal with the Iraqi government aimed at bringing a halt to months of deadly fighting in a Baghdad slum.
But anti-US attacks continued, with two US soldiers killed in a rocket attack in Baghdad and two Iraqis killed in a car bomb attack on a US military convoy in the northern city of Mosul.
Armed men claiming to belong to the militant group of Iraq's most wanted man Abu Musab al-Zarqawi appeared in a video threatening to behead a Turkish hostage.
In the teeming Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad, machine guns, mortar launchers and ammunition were trickling in to police stations under the five-day test agreement that could clear the road for a lasting truce in one of the major flashpoints of the Iraq insurgency.
A deal would shore up one flank for the US and Iraqi forces in the run-up to national polls planned for January, allowing them to concentrate on Fallujah, the epicenter of the Sunni Muslim insurgency, and other trouble spots around central Iraq.
In Sadr City, police, many of them Sadr supporters, told reporters they thought the militiamen mistrusted the Iraqi government and the US military and feared the other side might take advantage of the truce to crush their movement.
Under the terms of the deal, described as a loose verbal pact, there is a five-day test period for the weapons surrender after which the Iraqi army will move in and patrol Sadr City, where the Shiite militia has ruled by the gun for months, while the government has offered to free some detained Sadr supporters.
Intermediaries handed in weapons at one of three police stations serving as drop-off centers which had been cordoned off by police and Iraqi national guard. US army troops were also present at the sites.
At one station in the heart of the teeming district, about a dozen machine guns, 12 mortar rounds, 38 mortar launchers and a sniper rifle were handed in.
Sadr City, home to 2.5 million people, has been devastated by six months of fighting between the US army and Sadr's militia. Intense air strikes and street skirmishes are believed to have sharply reduced the militia's ranks from more than 10,000 followers to less than 2,000 since April, the US military says.
The US battalion commander for Sadr City, Lieutenant-Colonel Gary Volesky, warned that his men reserved the right to carry out raids and arrests despite the five-day test period for Sadr's men to relinquish heavy and medium weapons.
"There has been no ceasefire agreement. The freedom of our movement has not been limited in any way. If we get the intel [intelligence] to support doing a search or raid on a target we have that flexibility to do it," he said.
Iraqi national security advisor Kassem Daoud hailed the agreement Sunday and said the government had more than US$500 million to rebuild Sadr City, with US$150 million coming from the US.
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
‘FALLACY’: Xi’s assertions that Taiwan was given to the PRC after WWII confused right and wrong, and were contrary to the facts, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday called Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) claim that China historically has sovereignty over Taiwan “deceptive” and “contrary to the facts.” In an article published on Wednesday in the Russian state-run Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Xi said that this year not only marks 80 years since the end of World War II and the founding of the UN, but also “Taiwan’s restoration to China.” “A series of instruments with legal effect under international law, including the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Declaration have affirmed China’s sovereignty over Taiwan,” Xi wrote. “The historical and legal fact” of these documents, as well
RSS