Gunmen killed five army intelligence soldiers in two attacks west of
Baghdad while others shot dead five anti-Qaeda militiamen north of the
Iraqi capital on Saturday, police and doctors said.
One group of soldiers were driving near the site of a long-running anti-government protest in the former insurgent stronghold of Ramadi when they were stopped by gunmen.
They shot one of the gunmen, wounding him, and clashes broke out in which four of the soldiers were killed and another wounded, a police lieutenant colonel and a doctor said.
Gunmen also killed one soldier and wounded another in a similar incident involving a second vehicle in the same area, the same sources said.
And gunmen killed five Sahwa anti-Qaeda militiamen in an attack, on a checkpoint south of Tikrit, which lies north of the Iraqi capital, a second police lieutenant colonel and a doctor said.
Authorities announced a curfew in the whole province of Anbar.
They also gave the protest organisers in Ramadi, the provincial capital, a 24-hours deadline to hand over the gunmen responsible for killing the soldiers or face a “firm response,” said Major General Mardhi Mishhin Al Mahalawi, the army’s Anbar operations chief.
Members of Muslim Sunni minority have been rallying for the past four months in several Iraqi cities to protest what they describe as unfair treatment by Maliki’s government.
Tensions spiked earlier this week when fighting broke out in the northern town of Hawija during a security crackdown on a protest encampment.
That provoked a series of clashes nationwide that left more than 170 people dead over the past five days.
The victims in Tikrit were government-allied anti-Qaeda militia of Sunni fighters from the Sahwa, those who joined forces with US troops to fight Al Qaeda during the Iraq war.
The head of the Sahwa threatened war on militants if they do not turn over those who have killed Iraqi soldiers, state television reported on Saturday.
If those responsible are not handed over, “the Sahwa will take the requested procedures and do what it did in 2006,” Sheikh Wissam Al Hardan was quoted as saying.
In 2006, Sahwa militiamen fought pitched battles against Sunni militants, helping turn the tide of the Iraq war.
The attack on the army intelligence soldiers drew a quick response from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki, whose Shiite-led government has been the target of rising Sunni anger over perceived mistreatment.
Maliki vowed his government would not keep silent after the killing of the soldiers.
“I call upon the peaceful protesters to expel the criminals targeting military and police,” Maliki said in a statement posted on his official website. Maliki pointed a finger at the civil war in neighbouring Syria for the return of sectarian strife to Iraq.
Sectarian strife “came back to Iraq, because it began in another place in this region,” Maliki said in televised remarks.
“Sectarianism is evil, and the wind of sectarianism does not need a licence to cross from a country to another, because if it begins in a place, it will move to another place,” Maliki said.
“Strife is knocking on the doors of everyone, and no one will survive if it enters, because there is a wind behind it, and money, and plans,” he added, two days after warning of the danger of a return to “sectarian civil war.”
Iraqi officials have repeatedly claimed that insurgent groups, such as Al Qaeda in Iraq and supporters of former Iraqi leader Saddam regime have infiltrated Sunni demonstrations.
One group of soldiers were driving near the site of a long-running anti-government protest in the former insurgent stronghold of Ramadi when they were stopped by gunmen.
They shot one of the gunmen, wounding him, and clashes broke out in which four of the soldiers were killed and another wounded, a police lieutenant colonel and a doctor said.
Gunmen also killed one soldier and wounded another in a similar incident involving a second vehicle in the same area, the same sources said.
And gunmen killed five Sahwa anti-Qaeda militiamen in an attack, on a checkpoint south of Tikrit, which lies north of the Iraqi capital, a second police lieutenant colonel and a doctor said.
Authorities announced a curfew in the whole province of Anbar.
They also gave the protest organisers in Ramadi, the provincial capital, a 24-hours deadline to hand over the gunmen responsible for killing the soldiers or face a “firm response,” said Major General Mardhi Mishhin Al Mahalawi, the army’s Anbar operations chief.
Members of Muslim Sunni minority have been rallying for the past four months in several Iraqi cities to protest what they describe as unfair treatment by Maliki’s government.
Tensions spiked earlier this week when fighting broke out in the northern town of Hawija during a security crackdown on a protest encampment.
That provoked a series of clashes nationwide that left more than 170 people dead over the past five days.
The victims in Tikrit were government-allied anti-Qaeda militia of Sunni fighters from the Sahwa, those who joined forces with US troops to fight Al Qaeda during the Iraq war.
The head of the Sahwa threatened war on militants if they do not turn over those who have killed Iraqi soldiers, state television reported on Saturday.
If those responsible are not handed over, “the Sahwa will take the requested procedures and do what it did in 2006,” Sheikh Wissam Al Hardan was quoted as saying.
In 2006, Sahwa militiamen fought pitched battles against Sunni militants, helping turn the tide of the Iraq war.
The attack on the army intelligence soldiers drew a quick response from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki, whose Shiite-led government has been the target of rising Sunni anger over perceived mistreatment.
Maliki vowed his government would not keep silent after the killing of the soldiers.
“I call upon the peaceful protesters to expel the criminals targeting military and police,” Maliki said in a statement posted on his official website. Maliki pointed a finger at the civil war in neighbouring Syria for the return of sectarian strife to Iraq.
Sectarian strife “came back to Iraq, because it began in another place in this region,” Maliki said in televised remarks.
“Sectarianism is evil, and the wind of sectarianism does not need a licence to cross from a country to another, because if it begins in a place, it will move to another place,” Maliki said.
“Strife is knocking on the doors of everyone, and no one will survive if it enters, because there is a wind behind it, and money, and plans,” he added, two days after warning of the danger of a return to “sectarian civil war.”
Iraqi officials have repeatedly claimed that insurgent groups, such as Al Qaeda in Iraq and supporters of former Iraqi leader Saddam regime have infiltrated Sunni demonstrations.
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