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Militia Behind Attack on U.S. Base in Baghdad?

Rumors are swirling in southwestern Baghdad concerning a mortar attack that struck a major American base in the Baghdad area last week.
Rumors are swirling in southwestern Baghdad concerning a mortar attack that struck a major American base in the Baghdad area last week.

Locals in Shi'a areas near the Baghdad International Airport (BIA) say that the word on the street has it that Mahdi Army commanders have expressed that the operation last Wednesday, in which in which at least nine mortar shells landed on US Camp Victory, at BIA, was a "revenge" operation in retaliation for continuing American arrest raids against Mahdi Army members in Baghdad.

US raids against Mahdi Army elements have continued in spite of a "freeze" in Mahdi Army activity announced by Shi'a cleric Muqtada al-Sadr at the end of August.
US forces have been tight-lipped about the mortar attack on the American base. The military initially said that two Coalition troops were killed in the attack, without specifying further. It was confirmed over the weekend by the military that the two killed were American soldiers.

The military also said that among the at least 40 wounded in the attack were two "third-country nationals," meaning neither Americans nor Iraqis, but further details have not been forthcoming.

The rumor of Mahdi Army involvement cannot be confirmed or denied at this time.

Speculation has centered on the involvement of Iraqi security forces in the attack, as US forces captured six policemen and a police lieutenant in Bayya' district on Thursday. The attack appears to have been launched from a nearby abandoned school, the US military said.

-- Source Iraq Slogger www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/4638/Baghdad_Buzz_Militia_Behind_US_Base_Attack

Below is last week's report on the incident:

Iraqi Police Allegedly Behind Victory Attack
Unconfirmed Report US Military Arrested Seven in Raid on Baghdad Precinct

10/11/2007 11:21 AM ET

The US military has reportedly raided a police precinct in Western Baghdad, arresting a lieutenant and six policemen on suspicion of being involved in last night's attack on Camp Victory.

A series of mortars were fired into Camp Victory Wednesday night after dark, killing two and injuring forty. London's Times reported a Western security contractor on the base said that he heard nine mortar rounds after dark last night and four explosions inside the compound, though VOI cited a policeman who said twelve mortars had been fired.

The US military has released little information about the attack itself or any direct response, but VOI reports a number of policemen have been taken into custody.

"U.S. forces, backed by helicopters, raided at dawn a police precinct in al-Bayaa neighborhood in western Baghdad, where they arrested Lieutenant Dureid Abd el-Hussein and six policemen," a police source told VOI.

"The force confiscated a police vehicle and damaged some properties," he added.

"The main reason for arresting the officer was his suspected involvement in the attack on the U.S. Camp Victory military base near the Baghdad International Airport," he explained.

- Source: Iraq Slogger, www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/4618/Iraqi_Police_Allegedly_Behind_Victory_Attack
 
 

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