US military releases top Sunni party leader

The leader of Iraq’s top Sunni party has been released after being mistakenly detained earlier today by US forces, the American military said.

Meanwhile two suicide bombers killed at least 21 policemen south of the capital.

Mohsen Abdul-Hamid, head of the Iraqi Islamic Party, was detained at his home in Khadra, western Baghdad, at about 6am (5am irish time) by military forces, according to party officials and the man’s wife.

The US military later confirmed it had mistakenly arrested Abdul-Hamid, a short-time president of the now dissolved US-backed Governing Council, and released him shortly after.

“This morning coalition forces detained and interviewed (Abdul-Hamid),” the announcement said. “Following the interview it was determined that he was detained by mistake and should be released. Mr (Abdul-) Hamid is being returned to his home. Coalition forces regret any inconvenience and acknowledge his co-operation in resolving this matter.”

News of his arrest angered Sunni leaders, who described the act as an attack against their community which once dominated Iraqi politics but has fallen from power following Saddam Hussein's ousting and the dominance of Iraq’s majority Shiite community.

Even Iraqi President Jalal Talabani condemned the arrest of Abdul-Hamid and demanded his immediate release. Both men are Kurds.

“The Americans called us and they said they have set him free, but we are waiting to see him,” said Iraqi Islamic Party-secretary-general Ayad al-Samarei.

“We are waiting to see Abdul-Hamid, whom the Americans said they would bring to us,” al-Samarei added.

Seif Dawoud, aide to Sunni parliament speaker Hajim al-Hassani, said “multi-national forces informed 30 minutes ago that Mohsen Abdul-Hamid was released.” He provided no further details.

The Iraqi Islamic Party had in recent weeks taken steps to become more involved in the political process after boycotting the country’s January 30 parliamentary elections, which were dominated by parties drawn from Iraq’s majority Shiite population. Sunni Muslim Arabs are also thought to make up the core of an insurgency.

“This is a provocative and foolish act and this is part of the pressure exerted on the party,” al-Samarei said.

“At the time when the Americans say they are keen on real Sunni participation, they are now arresting the head of the only Sunni party that calls for a peaceful solution and have participated in the political process,” he added.

The arrest also came on the second day of Operation Lightning, a massive Iraqi-led anti-insurgent offensive in Baghdad that Abdul-Hamid’s party opposes, believing security forces will trample on innocent people’s rights. Abdul-Hamid has condemned the operation, which senior party member Tarek al-Hashimi will harm “innocent people”.

The operation began on Sunday with the first of more than 40,000 Iraqi soldiers and police deploying to Baghdad’s streets, searching cars and raiding homes to curb a bloody insurgency, which has killed more than 740 people since the April 28 announcement of the new Shiite-led government.

In Hillah, about 60 miles south of the capital, two suicide bombers detonated explosives in a crowd of police gathering for a protest, killing at least 21 people and wounding 100, said Interior Ministry spokesman Colonel Adnan Abdul Rahman.

Abdul Rahman said the suicide attacks happened shortly after 9am local time and were staggered to maximise death. Captain Muthana Khalid Ali, of the Hillah police, said the officers were protesting against a government decision to disband their special forces unit.

“The first explosion occurred in the middle of the demonstration in front of the mayor’s office and the second one took place less than one minute later and about 100 yards away from the first one just near to the demonstration,” said policeman Jiwad Kadhim Hamid.

“Then I just saw a ball of fire and flying pieces of flesh. After that, confused policemen started firing into the air.”

Iraqi police and soldiers cordoned off the area, and emergency workers set to work picking up slabs of flesh and severed limbs. Shoes and pieces of clothes worn by the victims were flung across the road.

The blasts blew out windows of the mayor’s office, a courthouse and school, covering the road with shards of glass and rubble.

In an apparent claim of responsibility, al Qaida in Iraq said in an internet statement that one of its members carried out an attack “against a group of special Iraqi forces, allied with the Jews and the crusaders, as they were protesting outside a police station.” The statement’s authenticity could not be verified.

Hillah was the site of the deadliest single attack since the fall of Saddam Hussein, when a February 28 suicide car bombing against police recruits that killed 125 people.

Separately, gunmen also killed a senior Kurdish official, Major General Ahmed al-Barazanchi, the director of internal affairs of Kirkuk province and a former police chief. He died in hospital early today after being shot late on Sunday, said Ismail al-Hadithi, Kirkuk’s deputy governor.

A roadside bomb blast killed one civilian and injured two others in Adhaim, a village 31 miles north of Baqouba, said Baqouba council official Faris Ekab.

Iraqi soldiers killed four insurgents and captured four others after US forces were attacked during a Sunday raid in a village in northern Anbar province, the military said today.

Abdul-Hamid, aged in his late 60s, is regarded as a moderate Islamic leader, has been involved with the party since the 1970s and headed it since 2003.

“They (US troops) raided our house and my son’s house, using bullets and stun bombs,” Ibrahim told Associated Press Television News. “And they arrested him (her son) and they also detained my husband, Mohsen Abdul-Hamid.”

“This irresponsible behaviour will only complicate the situation,” the party said in a statement.

Sunni Muslims were Iraq’s dominant community under Saddam Hussein, but they have lost their influence since the dictator’s ousting two years ago and the country’s predominant Shiite community gained political power.

The country’s raging insurgency is believed to be driven mainly from disaffected Iraqi Sunnis and extremist Islamists from neighbouring, predominantly Sunni Arab states.

Tensions have been high in recent weeks during a spate of violence, some which has demonstrated Sunni-Shiite tensions. Sunni and Shiite religious leaders have been trading accusations against each other’s communities amid the killings of hundreds of people, including Shiite and Sunni clerics.