Baghdad, Iraq – Scattered attacks targeting police and civilians killed 30 Iraqis on Monday as populist cleric Muqtada al- Sadr lashed out at Iraqi politicians and U.S. officials for failing to stop the violence.
The attacks followed a bloody Sunday in which 52 people were killed and close to 300 others injured by bombs and mortars in the vast Shiite slum of Sadr City.
“When things reach a certain point, then nobody can control the reins,” said 47-year-old lawyer Abdulsattar Nasri as people gathered at a nearby hospital Monday to receive the bodies of their relatives.
Four men were found Monday hanged near the Jolan athletic club in Sadr City, each with a note pinned to the chest spelling out “traitor,” in what appeared to be retribution by locals for the previous night’s attacks, police said. Witnesses told authorities that two of the men had been captured wearing explosive belts and that the other two had been caught firing mortar rounds against targets in Sadr City, according to police.
Eleven other bodies were found scattered throughout Baghdad neighborhoods.
Amid rising impatience at daily attacks, al-Sadr vowed during a speech in the holy city of Najaf to confront attacks on Shiites “militarily, religiously and ideologically.”
“We’re not weak,” he said. “But I don’t want to be dragged into a civil war.”
Speaking to reporters, al-Sadr criticized Washington for interfering in Iraqi affairs and the Iraqi government for being weak and self-involved.
The politicians “are busy. ‘I want to be president, I want to be minister.’ They forget the people, and they are busy with their (own) interests,” he said.
In a retort to U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s statement last week that the U.S. would rely on Iraqi forces in case of an all-out civil war, al-Sadr added: “Whether there is or isn’t a civil war, we don’t want you to interfere in Iraqi affairs whatsoever.”
On Monday, the British government announced a 10 percent reduction of British forces in the country, saying Iraqi security forces are becoming more capable of handling security.
