‘Freedom Day’ overshadowed by violence in Iraq

VIOLENCE in Iraq overshadowed a public holiday yesterday to mark the third anniversary of Baghdad’s fall to US forces.

Iraqi police and soldiers had bolstered security in the capital to prevent attacks on ‘Freedom Day’, but roadside bombs claimed at least three lives across the country.

An internal US embassy report on Iraq’s provinces, obtained by the New York Times, concluded in January that the stability of the strategic Baghdad region is a serious concern.

The 10-page report, dated January 31, three weeks before the insurgent bombing of a Shi’ite shrine pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war, says the region is plagued by intimidation and assassinations of public officials, Iraqi security forces and civilians.

The report also warns of “strong and growing influence of the SCIRI party” on Baghdad’s provincial council.

SCIRI is one of Iraq’s most powerful Shi’ite Islamist parties and is accused of having close links to the anti-US regime in Tehran. Sunni Arabs accuse SCIRI of sanctioning militia death squads - a charge it denies.

US troops killed eight suspected insurgents in a pre-dawn raid north of the capital yesterday. The roadside bombs killed at least two civilians and a policeman. Other bombings around Baghdad killed a policeman and wounded about a dozen others, police said.

Police discovered four bodies, handcuffed and at least one shot in the head, in the Dora district of southern Baghdad.

The Iraqi Islamic Party, the biggest Sunni party, issued a statement rejecting the ‘Freedom Day’ holiday, saying it was “an anniversary of occupying Iraq, not liberating it”.