Maliki slams US-aided atack on Shiite militia stronghold

Iraq’s prime minister sharply criticised a US-Iraqi attack on a Shiite militia stronghold in Baghdad, exposing a rift with his American partners on security tactics, as 24 people were killed today in a series of bombings and shooting.

An American soldier died of wounds sustained in fighting, the US military said today. Nine bullet-riddled bodies were found late yesterday south of Baghdad, police said.

The 34 deaths – in addition to the 10 killed in a suicide bombing in Samarra yesterday – occurred as the United States launches a major operation to secure Baghdad to control Shiite-Sunni sectarian bloodshed that many fear will lead to civil war.

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki’s criticism late yesterday was delivered hours after a pre-dawn air and ground attack on an area of Sadr City, the stronghold of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia.

Police said three people, including a woman and a child, were killed in the raid, which the US command said was aimed at “individuals involved in punishment and torture cell activities". Three people were captured in the raid, the US military said without mentioning the deaths.

Maliki, a Shiite, said he was “very angered and pained” by the operation, warning that it could undermine his efforts towards national reconciliation.

“Reconciliation cannot go hand in hand with operations that violate the rights of citizens this way,” Maliki said in a statement on government television. “This operation used weapons that are unreasonable to detain someone – like using planes.”

He apologised to the Iraqi people for the operation and said “this won’t happen again".

Hours after he spoke, central Baghdad was shaken early today by three near-simultaneous bomb explosions near the Interior Ministry building in the Al-Nahda neighbourhood. Ten civilians were killed and eight people were injured, said police Lt. Bilal Ali Majid.

A few hours later, two roadside bombs exploded in the main Shurja market in central Baghdad within minutes of each other, killing 10 people and injuring 50, said police Lt. Mohammed Kheyoun.

At about the same time, gunmen stormed a bank in Baghdad and killed two guards and a customer. They drove away with an unknown amount of money, said police Sgt. Zakariya Hassan.

Also today, two roadside bombs in Tikrit north of Baghdad killed a policeman, said police Capt. Laith Hamid. An American soldier died of wounds sustained in fighting in Anbar province, the US military said in a statement. It gave no other details.

Late yesterday, bullet-riddled bodies of seven Iraqi soldiers, one policeman and one civilian were found in Kut, 100 miles south of Baghdad, police said.

Yesterday, President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, met with the top US commander in Iraq, General George Casey Jr., to discuss security operations in Baghdad. Talabani said he told Casey “it is in no one’s interest to have a confrontation” with al-Sadr’s movement.

The public position taken by Maliki and Talabani signalled serious differences between Iraqi politicians and both US and Iraqi military officials on how to restore order and deal with armed groups, many of which have links to political parties.

The friction emerged as the US military kicks off a military operation to secure Baghdad streets after a surge in Sunni-Shiite violence – much of it blamed on al-Sadr’s militia.

Al-Sadr has risen as a major figure in the majority Shiite community and a pillar of support for Maliki. The prime minister’s remarks underscore the difficulties facing the Americans in bringing order to Baghdad at a time when Iraqis are increasingly resentful of the presence of foreign troops.

Speaking to reporters after meeting with Talabani, Casey made no mention of al-Sadr but said he had discussed plans with Talabani to bring “fundamental change to the security situation in Baghdad.”

Casey said he hoped the new operation would “change the situation significantly prior to Ramadan,” which begins in late September.