Baghdad, Iraq – Urban clashes continued for a second day in a volatile Sunni Arab neighborhood of northern Baghdad, leaving at least five Iraqis dead and 20 wounded Tuesday in fighting between gunmen and Iraqi security forces.
Witnesses described sectarian gun battles between forces of the Shiite-led security forces and Sunni Arab residents. But Iraqi officials maintained that outside insurgents had infiltrated the city’s Adamiyah quarter and provoked clashes with police and the army, which had already left at least three people dead on Monday.
By late Tuesday morning, Iraqi army forces had moved in and a measure of calm had returned. Authorities had sealed off main roads into the neighborhood and U.S. helicopters scanned the area from above.
“Now the situation is good and calm,” Iraqi army Maj. Gen. Jawad Rumi Daini said in a telephone interview. “Armed men from outside Adamiyah wanted to make trouble inside, and we eliminated them.”
But the district’s mostly Sunni residents blamed elements of the security forces for the troubles. They allege that specialized units of the Interior Ministry have been acting as sectarian death squads and terrorizing their communities.
Iraq’s Sunni minority and Shiite majority have been engaged in a struggle for power and influence since the U.S.-led invasion. Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish political leaders have been deadlocked in government-formation talks for months.
The political talks stumbled Tuesday amid ongoing security woes and despite international pressure.
