Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Agencies:- Fighting erupted Tuesday between rival Shiite militias in Karbala during a religious festival, claiming 51 lives and forcing officials to abort the celebrations and order up to 1 million Shiite pilgrims to leave the southern city.

Security officials said Mahdi Army gunmen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr fired on guards around two shrines protected by the Badr Brigade, the armed wing of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, their main rivals who are loyal to Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki.

Residents of Karbala contacted by telephone said snipers were firing on Iraqi security forces from rooftops. Explosions and the rattle of automatic weapons fire could be heard during telephone calls to reporters in the city 50 miles south of Baghdad.

In addition to the deaths, security officials said at least 247 people were wounded, including women and children.

The clashes appeared to be part of a power struggle between Al Sadr and Maliki’s Shiite groups in the sect’s southern Iraqi heartland, which includes the bulk of the country’s vast oil wealth.

Al Sadr’s Men Attack Maliki’s Men

Gunmen , believed to be fighters from the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi army, on Tuesday attacked and burned two offices of the Shiite Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) in two different parts of Baghdad, a police source and eyewitnesses said.

“The Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council’s office ( the council is the largest Shiite political bloc and fiercely loyal to Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki ) in al-Habibiyah neighborhood, eastern Baghdad, came under attack with small-arms fire and RPGs this evening, setting the office ablaze,” an eyewitness told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

Another eyewitness said “the attack occurred today at 8:00 pm leaving some casualties among those present at the office.”

Earlier on Tuesday, a police source said unidentified gunmen stormed and burned the office of the Shiite Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) in Kadhemiya city in northern Baghdad.

“A group of gunmen stormed this afternoon the office of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) in Kadhimiya city before setting it ablaze,” the source, who preferred to be unnamed, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

“Armed clashes flared up between Shiite cleric’s Muqtada al-Sadr’s fighters and elements from the office of the SIIC,” the source also said, adding no further details.

The SIIC is led by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, who is also the head of the Shiite Unified Iraqi Coalition (UIC), the largest parliamentary bloc with a total of 113 seats in the 275-member parliamen

Voices of Iraq reports that security forces of interior ministry arrived in Karbala on Tuesday evening to curb the armed clashes.

“Security forces headed on Tuesday afternoon to the city of Karbala and will arrive there this evening,” General Abdul Karim Khalaf told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

“The decision to send the forces was made by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki,” he noted.

“The decision came to secure the city and to end the presence of gunmen who are fortified inside it,” he also said, highlighting that the gunmen are fortified in a region between the two Shrines.

The spokesman also said that the armed men smuggled weapons into the city a few days ago, before al-Ziyara al-Shaabaniya.

“Calm started to prevail in the city after the deployment of Iraqi security forces throughout Karbala as well as the intervention of some Shiite clerics to end the violent acts,” he said.

Eyewitnesses had said that thousands of Shiite Muslim pilgrims visiting the holy city of Karbala escaped from the center of the old city towards the city’s main bus station after the renewal of the clashes between gunmen and police forces and because of the curfew imposed on the city as of Tuesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, an eyewitness told VOI “three hotels were burned: Assad Allah, Al-Anwar and Al-Rahman.”

“A number of vehicles were also burned, including some police vehicles,” he also said.

Karbala has been receiving for three days now large numbers of Shiite Muslim visitors from inside and outside Iraq, visiting the tombs of Imams al-Hussein and al-Abbas as a prelude to celebrate the birth anniversary of Imam al-Mahdi on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

Karbala Governor Aqeil al-Khazaali expected on Monday that 4-5 million Shiite Muslim pilgrims would flow into the holy city for al-Ziyara al-Shaabaniya.
Shaaban is the month preceding the holy fasting month of Ramadan on the Muslim Hegira calendar.

Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said entrances and exits to Karbala “have been secured and more forces are on the way from other provinces.” Officials said buses were sent to evacuate pilgrims from the city, which includes some of the world’s most sacred Shiite shrines.

Gunfights also broke out Tuesday between Mahdi militiamen and followers of the Supreme Council in at least two Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad and in Kut, about 100 miles southeast of the capital, police said.

Extra police took up positions in the center of another Shiite city, Diwaniyah, after gunmen fired on a mosque associated with the Supreme Council, police said. A curfew was clamped on the Shiite city of Najaf after a mortar round exploded on a major square, causing no casualties, officials said.

The trouble started in Karbala late Monday as tens of thousands of Shiites were streaming into the city for the Shabaniyah festival marking the birth of Mohammed al-Mahdi, the 12th and last Shiite imam who disappeared in the 9th century. Devout Shiites believe he will return to Earth to restore peace and harmony.

Scuffles broke out between police and pilgrims as the crowd tried to push through the security checkpoints near the Imam al-Hussein mosque, the focal point of the celebrations. At least five people were killed, police said.

Early Tuesday, crowds of angry pilgrims chanting religious slogans surged through the streets, attacking police and mosque guards, witnesses said. Two ambulances were set ablaze, sending a huge column of black smoke over the city.

Gunmen appeared, firing automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars at security forces and sending panicked pilgrims fleeing the area, police and witnesses said.

A member of the city council said the center of town was in chaos, with pilgrims running in all directions to escape the gunfire.

“We don’t know what’s going on,” said the councilman, who wouldn’t allow use of his name for security reasons. “All we know is the huge numbers of pilgrims were too much for the checkpoints to handle and now there is shooting.”

Some rounds struck fuel tanks on the roofs of three small hotels, setting them ablaze, police said.

With the situation spiraling out of control, police ordered pilgrims out of the center of the city, effectively canceling the celebrations which were to reach their climax Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

“The area where they (the pilgrims) were gathering has been evacuated in order to control those (criminals),” said Khalaf, the Interior Ministry spokesman. He said the gunmen were gathering in three areas in the old town and security forces were chasing them.

In Baghdad, a senior government security official blamed the fighting on al-Sadr’s followers, saying they provoked the confrontations Monday night and were responsible for the shooting Tuesday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid enflaming the situation.

Tensions have been rising in southern Iraq as rival Shiite groups maneuver for power, especially in the oil-rich area around Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city.

Concern over Basra is mounting as British forces prepare to evacuate the last of their forces from the city and redeploy to the airport 12 miles to the north.

On Tuesday, Hakim al-Miyahi, head of the security committee of the Basra municipal council, told The Associated Press that Iraqi forces were incapable of maintaining order in the city once the British leave and that the Baghdad government should send reinforcements.

“Some disorder will occur in the absence of British troops in Basra,” he said. “It will take at least two army divisions to fill the gap that will be created by British troop withdrawal.”