Islamist militants strengthen grip on Iraq's Falluja

Islamist militants strengthen grip on Iraq's Falluja . Reuters By Suadad al-Salhy 13 hours ago Tribal fighters deploy themselves on the streets of Ramadi . View gallery Tribal fighters deploy themselves on the streets of Ramadi January 6, 2014. REUTERS/Ali al-Mashhadan … By Suadad al-Salhy Related Stories Iraq army, tribes join forces against al Qaeda Reuters Iraqis seek political solution to avert army attack on Falluja Reuters Iraq's Maliki says army won't attack Falluja, militants must go Reuters Iraq PM urges Falluja to expel al Qaeda-linked militants Reuters Iraqi air force strikes city to try to oust al Qaeda Reuters BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Al Qaeda and other insurgent groups have tightened their grip on Falluja, defying the Shi'ite-led Iraqi government's efforts to persuade local tribesmen to expel them from the Sunni Muslim city, residents and officials say. Despite an army siege, fighters and weapons have been flowing into the city, where U.S. troops fought some of their fiercest battles during their 2003-11 occupation of Iraq. In an embarrassing setback for a state that has around a million men under arms, the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and its tribal allies overran Falluja and parts of the nearby city Ramadi on January 1. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, seeking a third term in a parliamentary election in April, deployed troops and tanks around the city of 300,000 and funneled weapons to anti-Qaeda tribesmen, but has ruled out a full-scale military assault. He was quoted by the Washington Post on Thursday as saying that 80 soldiers and police had been killed so far, as well as more than 80 civilians and double that number of insurgents. Ramadi, the provincial capital of the vast western province of Anbar, is mostly back under state control, but Maliki's calls on local tribesmen to evict the militants from Falluja, just 50 km (31 miles) west of Baghdad, have so far come to nought. Instead, scores more ISIL fighters have sneaked into the city along with an array of weaponry ranging from small arms and mortars to Grad missiles and anti-aircraft guns, according to security and local officials, residents and tribal leaders. "Our sources in Falluja indicate that militant numbers have increased to more than 400 in the last few days and that more anti-aircraft guns were received," said a senior local official who declined to be named. His figure could not be confirmed. The weapons and fighters are reaching Falluja mainly from its southern environs, an area entirely under the sway of tribes hostile to the government, security officials said. "The tribes scattered around Falluja have zero loyalty to the central government," Sheikh Mohammed al-Bajari, a tribal leader and negotiator in the city, told Reuters by phone. "Now they (the army) are not controlling anything and no roads can be closed," he said of Falluja's southern approaches. INTIMIDATING REPUTATION ISIL, which is also playing an aggressive role in Syria's civil war, is greatly outnumbered by armed tribesmen in Falluja, a symbol of Sunni identity and resistance in Iraq, many of whom lean towards the militants or other insurgent factions. Since the city fell out of government control, various rebel groups have loosely aligned with ISIL or are asserting their own influence, officials, tribal leaders and residents said. These include Islamist factions such as the 1920 Revolution Brigades, the Islamic Army, the Mujahedin Army, the Rashidin Army and Ansar al-Sunna, as well as the Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order, a Baathist militia created by Izzat al-Duri, a former lieutenant of Iraq's deposed leader Saddam Hussein. Despite its limited numbers, ISIL dominates by its zeal and fearsome reputation on and off the battlefield, frequently using suicide bombers in Iraq and in Syria - where it has even turned them on rival rebel factions in a bitter power struggle. In Falluja, it distributed leaflets on Thursday announcing a new "Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice" to enforce its strict Islamic code, residents said. That recalled memories of the harsh Islamic courts set up in Falluja when the city was dominated by an umbrella group known as the Mujahideen Shura Council from late 2005 to 2006. Dozens of youths accused of collaborating with the U.S. occupation were executed on the orders of these courts. A leader of that council, Abdullah al-Janabi, who was also prominent in an ISIL precursor called the Islamic State of Iraq, returned to Falluja two days after its takeover this year. "Blood is on the hands of all policemen. Police buildings were used to torture and to extract confessions ... and must be cleansed," the Sunni cleric told worshippers at the Saad bin Abi Waqas mosque in northern Falluja on Friday. "We swear by God almighty and the blood of martyrs that the Safavid army will not enter the city except over our dead bodies," he said, in a derogatory reference to the Iraqi army. About 200 masked militants using looted police vehicles guarded the road leading to the mosque, where worshippers were checked for weapons before Janabi's sermon at weekly prayers. Many residents ignored a call from Sunni clerics involved in a year-long anti-government protest movement to gather for mass prayers at al-Furqan mosque in the city center. Instead most worshippers prayed at neighborhood mosques where gunmen were absent. RESIDENTS FLEE Many people in Falluja loathe Maliki's government, which they see as oppressive and provocative towards minority Sunnis, but also fear the revival of Islamist militant rule. Last week Falluja community leaders nominated a new police chief and mayor. The militants responded by blowing up the police chief's house on Tuesday and briefly kidnapping the mayor. Both men have since fled north to Iraqi Kurdistan. Two days later, they set up checkpoints in several districts and rummaged through people's wallets in search of identity cards that might reveal links with the security forces or government-backed Sahwa (Awakening) Sunni militias. Fear of ISIL, as well as frequent bombardment by the army, which says it is responding to militant fire, prompted hundreds more families to flee the city in the last few days. Eliana Nabaa, spokeswoman for the U.N. mission in Iraq, said more than 14,000 families - at least 80,000 people - had left Falluja and Ramadi since the crisis erupted in late December. That figure does not include many displaced people not registered by the government or relief agencies, or those who have fled from Falluja since Thursday, she said. Negotiations for the peaceful removal of ISIL from Falluja are continuing, but have yet to bear fruit. "We don't expect ISIL fighters to respond positively," said a local official and negotiator, who declined to be named. "They have come to impose their control on the city...so there is no way to drive them away without fighting." (Editing by Alistair Lyon and Sonya Hepinstall) ============ Wave of attacks kills at least 30 in Iraq Published time: January 18, 2014 22:49 Get short URL Iraqi security forces inspect the site of a bomb explosion in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on January 18, 2014. (AFP Photo / Marwan Ibrahim) Iraqi security forces inspect the site of a bomb explosion in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on January 18, 2014. (AFP Photo / Marwan Ibrahim) Share on tumblr Tags Al-Qaeda, Arms, Army, Conflict, Iraq, Religion, Terrorism, Violence A spate of armed attacks across Iraq, including car bombings, has left at least 30 dead and scores injured. Meanwhile the central government is struggling to regain control of Fallujah overrun by al-Qaeda and other insurgent groups early this year. Numerous car explosions struck the capital Baghdad on Saturday. In Mansour neighborhood, at least four people have been killed and 12 others wounded in a car explosion, according to police. Another car bomb at the bus station in eastern Baghdad killed four people and wounded six, authorities said. A blast near one of the hospitals in the north of the capital killed four and injured 8 people. Further explosions in a busy commercial street in western Baghdad took the lives of at least two people and wounded 13, officials announced. Four more were killed and 13 wounded near a juvenile prison in Toubchi district. Authorities had to seal the area to search for the inmates, as some of the convicts managed to escape following the blast. Mortar shell fire in al-Adil neighborhood killed three people and wounded nine. Another bomb explosion in Amariyah commercial district killed two people. Three more have been killed in an explosion inside a market in Baghdad's Madain area, which also wounded at least nine people. In the northern city of Kirkuk also at least one person was killed and 15 wounded in an attack, according to the police said. A member of Iraqi security forces inspects the site of a bomb explosion in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on January 18, 2014. (AFP Photo / Marwan Ibrahim) A member of Iraqi security forces inspects the site of a bomb explosion in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on January 18, 2014. (AFP Photo / Marwan Ibrahim) Violence in Iraq has been on the rise over the past year, with almost 9,000 people killed in 2013 which became the bloodiest year for Iraq since 2008, according to UN estimates. In December violence escalated further, after authorities broke up an anti-government Sunni protest camp and arrested a Sunni lawmaker on terrorism charges in Anbar province. With the rise of tension the army was forced to pull back from the province, allowing al-Qaeda fighters to seize control of Fallujah and parts of the provincial capital Ramadi. Over 500 people including many civilians were killed in Anbar during the in-fighting between rebel groups and the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant since the beginning of 2014. At least three people were killed in overnight clashes on Saturday as Iraqi security forces and allied Sunni tribesmen tried to regain control in the area. On Saturday, US Vice President Joe Biden held a phone conversation with the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki to discuss the fighting in Anbar. Earlier this week, Iraq asked the United States for new arms to fight the ISIL militants and asked US troops to train its counter-terrorism forces. According to US Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, the military aid will be delivered to Iraq “as rapidly as possible,” but US officials did not announce any plans of military training for Iraqi troops. Although the provincial capital Ramadi is mostly under central government control, scores of heavily armed ISIL fighters are still in control of Fallujah and the government cannot block the flood of new weapons and reinforcements to the area. “The tribes scattered around Fallujah have zero loyalty to the central government,” Sheikh Mohammed Al-Bajari, a tribal leader and negotiator in the city, told Reuters by phone. “Now [the army] are not controlling anything and no roads can be closed,” he said of Fallujah’s southern approaches entirely under control of tribes hostile to the government.