21 September 2005

Iraq is denouncing British forces over a dramatic rescue of two undercover soldiers that could stoke hostility toward foreign troops in increasingly volatile southern Iraq. British troops used an armored fighting vehicle on Monday to burst into an Iraqi jail in search of soldiers held by police in Basra. The British commander said he learned they had been handed to militia and ordered their rescue from a nearby house.

"It is a very unfortunate development that the British forces should try to release their forces the way it happened," Haider al-Ebadi, an adviser to Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, told a news conference in Baghdad.

The operation followed rioting that began, according to police and local officials, when the two soldiers fired on a police patrol. At least two Iraqis were killed in the violence.

Southern Iraq is home to several Shiite militias, including one loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who fiercely opposes the presence of foreign troops.

The gravity of the situation for the Coalition forces was compounded by an announcement made over the Internet by  Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who purportedly vowed not to attack Sadr and other Shiite Muslim leaders opposed to Iraq's U.S.-backed premier and the American-led occupation.

The statement appears aimed at splitting Iraq's dominant Shiite community, which has suffered scores of deadly attacks by Zarqawi's Sunni Muslim extremists.

Zarqawi's apparent offer follows a September 14 audio tape posted on the Internet in which the Al-Qaeda leader purportedly declared "all out" war against Shiites, Iraqi troops and the country's government over the U.S.-led offensive against militants in the northern city of Tal Afar.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq singled out in the statement three radical Shiite clerics and their followers who would not be attacked: Sadr, Baghdad-based anti-U.S. religious leader Jawad al-Khalisi and Grand Ayatollah Ahmad al-Hassani al-Baghdadi.

Both Sadr and Khalisi have joined Sunnis in demanding the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces from Iraq and rejecting a draft constitution out of fear that it will lead to the splintering of Iraq.

Hassani also issued a fatwa, or religious edict, in late August urging Iraqis to vote against the constitution in an October referendum while Iraq was under foreign occupation.

The latest statement also warned other Iraqi Shiites against cooperating with the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari or the coalition forces.

The statement also threatened Shiite and Kurdish leaders for treason to their country.

Singled out were Jaafari; his deputy Ahmad Chalabi; former Premier Ayad Allawi; Iraqi President Jalal Talabani; Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the powerful Shiite Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution; and Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani.

Tensions in Basra had risen on Sunday when British forces arrested two leading members of Sadr's Mehdi Army militia.

The tough British response will further strain ties between Iraqis and British troops, who had maintained relatively good relations with the Shiite population of Basra by pursuing a low-profile security policy, in contrast to tougher U.S. tactics.

Iraqi police vented their fury in Basra as they inspected damage from the British raid.

"Four tanks invaded the area. A tank cannon struck a room where a policeman was praying," said policeman Abbas Hassan, standing next to

mangled cars outside the police station and jail that he said were crushed by British military vehicles. "This is terrorism. All we had was rifles."

Photographs of a burning soldier being pelted as he climbed out of a tank in Basra were splashed across British papers.

In Iraq, state television footage showed the two soldiers unshaven and looking nervous as Iraqi police looked over wigs, Arab headdresses, an anti-tank missile and communications equipment, all apparently used in their mission.

Images of the pair seemed sure to fuel suspicions by militias in Basra and elsewhere who believe foreign troops are on a secret mission to exploit Iraq.

Ebadi said Iraqi security forces were justified in detaining the pair.

"They were acting very suspiciously like they were watching something and collecting information in civilian clothes in these tense times," he said. - AP, Reuters