Iraqi Sunnis, Shiites Protest Police Raids

By SAMEER N. YACOUB

BAGHDAD, Iraq – A thousand Shiite and Sunni Muslims prayed together Friday in a demonstration of unity in central Baghdad ahead of potentially divisive parliamentary elections and following years of sectarian violence.

After midday prayers, the two groups held a demonstration whey they were united in their denunciation of military and police raids and widespread arrests of people suspected of participating in the insurgency.

Men waved Iraqi flags and women dressed in black robes carried posters of their missing sons. Some protesters held up portraits of Sunni clerics that have been in killed since the U.S. invasion in 2003.

Shiites make up the majority in Iraq, but were oppressed by former ruler Saddam Hussein, who is a Sunni. Since Saddam’s overthrow, Shiites have controlled most of the political power in Iraq, while the anti-U.S. insurgency has been dominated by Sunnis.

Sunni leaders have also complained of attacks by Shiite death squads with ties to the government. Sunni suicide bombers have targeted Shiite mosques and gatherings.

The discovery by U.S. troops more than two weeks ago of an interior ministry jail filled with 173 detainees, some showing signs of torture.

"The Interior Ministry is killing our sons at the orders of the (Iranians)," one poster read, referring to alleged ties between minister Bayn Jabr and Iran. Another poster referred to Jabr as an American agent.

In Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, the U.S. military launched a counterinsurgency operation code-named Operation Shank, a statement said.

"The purpose of the operation is to disrupt a terrorist group that utilizes an area of Ramadi as its base for attacks on local Ramadi citizens, Iraqi and U.S. military," the statement said. It is the fifth such operation in the area in recent weeks designed to calm the area before the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections.

As part of security measures for the Dec. 15 general elections, Iraq’s Interior Ministry has banned all non-Iraqi Arabs from entering the country until further notice, officials said Friday.

The decision was taken by Interior Minister Bayn Jabr, said two senior Interior Ministry officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

"This step is part of the security measures taken for the elections," said one of the senior Interior Ministry officials. "It covers all border points whether airports, land border crossings and ports."

The U.S. command in Iraq said Thursday that suicide bombings fell in November to their lowest level in seven months, citing the success of U.S.-Iraqi military operations against insurgent and foreign fighter sanctuaries near the Syrian border.

But the trend in Iraq has not resulted in less bloodshed: 85 U.S. troops died during the month, one of the highest tolls since the invasion.

Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, a coalition operations officer, warned that al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, will likely step up attacks in the next two weeks to try to disrupt parliamentary elections Dec. 15.

Lynch told reporters that suicide bombings declined to 23 in November as U.S. and Iraqi forces were overrunning insurgent strongholds in the Euphrates River valley west of the capital.

Communities along the river are believed used by foreign fighters, who slip into the country from Syria and travel down the river highway to Baghdad and other cities.

"In the month of November: only 23 suicide attacks – the lowest we’ve seen in the last seven months, the direct result of the effectiveness of our operations," Lynch said.

Car bombings – parked along streets and highways and detonated remotely – have declined from 130 in February to 68 in November, Lynch said.

However, suicide attacks have not consistently decreased over the past year. After more than 70 such attacks in May, the number fell in August by nearly half and then climbed to over 50 two months later.

And despite the decline over the past month, there has been no letup in the relentless toll of American deaths at a time of growing discontent in the United States over the Iraq war.

The U.S. command said Thursday that four American service members were killed the day before, three of them from hostile action and the fourth in a traffic accident. The deaths raised the American fatality toll for November to at least 85.

That was down from the 96 American deaths suffered in October – the fourth deadliest month since the war began in March 2003. But it was well above the 49 deaths in September. U.S. monthly death tolls have hit 80 or above during 10 of the 33 months of the war.

There also has been no decline over the past six months in the Iraqi death toll from suicide attacks, according to an Associated Press tally. In November, at least 290 Iraqis were killed in such attacks, more than double the figure from the previous month. The count shows the Iraqi toll ranging from at least 69 deaths in August to at least 356 in September.