Iraqi soccer celebration marred by violence
Iraqi soccer celebration marred by violence
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune and REUTERS
Published: July 25, 2007
BAGHDAD: Gunfire erupted across Baghdad as Iraqis celebrated in the streets following their soccer team's historic Asian Cup semifinal victory on Wednesday, but deadly bombings soon marred the rare moment of unity.
The police said a car bomb exploded near a crowd of jubilant Iraqis, killing 12 and wounding 65 in the Mansour area of Baghdad. Soon afterward, a suicide car bomb attack on an army checkpoint in eastern Baghdad killed 16 people and wounded 57, many of them soccer fans celebrating nearby, the police said.
In Sadr City, a sprawling Shiite slum in Baghdad, women threw sweets to dancing soccer fans with Iraqi flags draped over their shoulders. Some families sacrificed sheep as celebrations dragged on into the evening.
Sadr City ice cream and juice shops gave away free treats, a rare sight in the district, a stronghold of the feared Mahdi army militia of the anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr.
Thousands of fans poured into the streets in all areas of Baghdad as well as Basra and Karbala in the south and Kurdish cities like Arbil, Kirkuk and Sulaimaniya in the north.
In the Karrada district of Baghdad, soldiers standing in the gun turrets of armored vehicles waved to dancing soccer fans and the police joined in.
The celebrations began moments after Iraq beat South Korea in a dramatic semifinal to reach the Asian Cup final for the first time.
"I am nearly crying for joy," said Nuri al-Najjar, a 30-year-old fan in Basra. "Iraq's victory with this harmonious team represents the way we should all live together."
Iraqis in the autonomous northern region of Kurdistan even waved Iraqi flags in a rare display of national unity. Kurds normally view the Iraqi flag as an Arab symbol.
"Life for Iraq, life for Iraq," fans in Sulaimaniya chanted.
More than an hour after the Iraqi goalkeeper Noor Sabri made the crucial save in a tense penalty shoot out, gunfire could still be heard in many parts of the capital.
State television broadcast a warning from the Iraqi military urging residents not to engage in celebratory gunfire. But the warning appeared to have been ignored. Preliminary police reports said one person was killed and 17 wounded by the gunfire.
Five people were killed in the celebratory gunfire that followed Iraq's win over Vietnam in a quarterfinal match played in Bangkok on Sunday. But no other violence was reported in those celebrations.
The feeling of unity in many Iraqi neighborhoods did not carry over into the workings of government. Iraq's largest Sunni Arab bloc said Wednesday that it had suspended membership in Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki's coalition government, a fresh setback to the Shiite leader's faltering efforts at national reconciliation.
The Iraqi Accordance Front, which has six cabinet seats and 44 of 275 in Parliament, gave Maliki a week to meet its demands or see its six members officially quit the 14-month-old cabinet.
"The Accordance Front announces the suspension of its membership in the government," Sheik Khalaf al-Elyan said at a news conference attended by the two other leaders of the three-party Accordance Front - Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi of the Iraqi Islamic Party and Adnan al-Dulaimi of the Congress of the People of Iraq. Elyan leads the National Dialogue Council.
Reading from a prepared statement, Elyan said the front's demands included a pardon for security detainees not charged with specific crimes, a firm commitment by the government to human rights, the disbanding of militias and the inclusion of all parties in the government in dealing with the country's security situation.
The Accordance Front cabinet ministers include the deputy prime minister for security as well as the ministers of planning, higher education, culture, defense and the minister of state for women's affairs.
The threat was the latest in a series of boycotts by minority Sunnis and followers of a radical Shiite cleric, which have left Maliki's Shiite-dominated government increasingly fragile even as pressure mounts in Washington on him to shepherd through a series of political goals before a key U.S. report to Congress in September.
The United States responded coolly on Wednesday to an overture from Iran for higher-level talks, Reuters reported from Baghdad.
Iran and the United States agreed on Tuesday to set up a three-country security committee with Iraq despite the fact that the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, accused Tehran of stepping up support for militias in Iraq.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki of Iran was quoted on Wednesday as saying Iran was ready for higher-level talks with Washington if asked. But a State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, said that Washington had no plans to open such talks.
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune and REUTERS
Published: July 25, 2007
BAGHDAD: Gunfire erupted across Baghdad as Iraqis celebrated in the streets following their soccer team's historic Asian Cup semifinal victory on Wednesday, but deadly bombings soon marred the rare moment of unity.
The police said a car bomb exploded near a crowd of jubilant Iraqis, killing 12 and wounding 65 in the Mansour area of Baghdad. Soon afterward, a suicide car bomb attack on an army checkpoint in eastern Baghdad killed 16 people and wounded 57, many of them soccer fans celebrating nearby, the police said.
In Sadr City, a sprawling Shiite slum in Baghdad, women threw sweets to dancing soccer fans with Iraqi flags draped over their shoulders. Some families sacrificed sheep as celebrations dragged on into the evening.
Sadr City ice cream and juice shops gave away free treats, a rare sight in the district, a stronghold of the feared Mahdi army militia of the anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr.
Thousands of fans poured into the streets in all areas of Baghdad as well as Basra and Karbala in the south and Kurdish cities like Arbil, Kirkuk and Sulaimaniya in the north.
In the Karrada district of Baghdad, soldiers standing in the gun turrets of armored vehicles waved to dancing soccer fans and the police joined in.
The celebrations began moments after Iraq beat South Korea in a dramatic semifinal to reach the Asian Cup final for the first time.
"I am nearly crying for joy," said Nuri al-Najjar, a 30-year-old fan in Basra. "Iraq's victory with this harmonious team represents the way we should all live together."
Iraqis in the autonomous northern region of Kurdistan even waved Iraqi flags in a rare display of national unity. Kurds normally view the Iraqi flag as an Arab symbol.
"Life for Iraq, life for Iraq," fans in Sulaimaniya chanted.
More than an hour after the Iraqi goalkeeper Noor Sabri made the crucial save in a tense penalty shoot out, gunfire could still be heard in many parts of the capital.
State television broadcast a warning from the Iraqi military urging residents not to engage in celebratory gunfire. But the warning appeared to have been ignored. Preliminary police reports said one person was killed and 17 wounded by the gunfire.
Five people were killed in the celebratory gunfire that followed Iraq's win over Vietnam in a quarterfinal match played in Bangkok on Sunday. But no other violence was reported in those celebrations.
The feeling of unity in many Iraqi neighborhoods did not carry over into the workings of government. Iraq's largest Sunni Arab bloc said Wednesday that it had suspended membership in Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki's coalition government, a fresh setback to the Shiite leader's faltering efforts at national reconciliation.
The Iraqi Accordance Front, which has six cabinet seats and 44 of 275 in Parliament, gave Maliki a week to meet its demands or see its six members officially quit the 14-month-old cabinet.
"The Accordance Front announces the suspension of its membership in the government," Sheik Khalaf al-Elyan said at a news conference attended by the two other leaders of the three-party Accordance Front - Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi of the Iraqi Islamic Party and Adnan al-Dulaimi of the Congress of the People of Iraq. Elyan leads the National Dialogue Council.
Reading from a prepared statement, Elyan said the front's demands included a pardon for security detainees not charged with specific crimes, a firm commitment by the government to human rights, the disbanding of militias and the inclusion of all parties in the government in dealing with the country's security situation.
The Accordance Front cabinet ministers include the deputy prime minister for security as well as the ministers of planning, higher education, culture, defense and the minister of state for women's affairs.
The threat was the latest in a series of boycotts by minority Sunnis and followers of a radical Shiite cleric, which have left Maliki's Shiite-dominated government increasingly fragile even as pressure mounts in Washington on him to shepherd through a series of political goals before a key U.S. report to Congress in September.
The United States responded coolly on Wednesday to an overture from Iran for higher-level talks, Reuters reported from Baghdad.
Iran and the United States agreed on Tuesday to set up a three-country security committee with Iraq despite the fact that the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, accused Tehran of stepping up support for militias in Iraq.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki of Iran was quoted on Wednesday as saying Iran was ready for higher-level talks with Washington if asked. But a State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, said that Washington had no plans to open such talks.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 9:45 AM
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