Insurgents Seize 60 Hostages in Iraqi Town

[__Kratos__]

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Sunni guerrillas took at least 60 people hostage in an Iraqi town near Baghdad on Friday and threatened to kill them unless Shi'ites left the area, a Shi'ite official quoted residents as saying.

The hostage-taking and three successive days of bombings which killed at least 34 people suggested insurgents had regrouped after a lull in violence since Jan. 30 elections.

"People from the town called me begging the Iraqi government to save their relatives who are hostages. They told me there are at least 60 hostages," the official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters in Baghdad.

Insurgents with heavy weapons appeared to have taken control of the mixed Sunni and Shi'ite town of Madaen, just south of Baghdad, and no police or government forces were in sight, said the official.

"The residents told me the insurgents were wandering the streets in cars and warning people on loudspeakers that if Shi'ites want the hostages to be safe they must leave town," he said.

Guerrillas have taken control of cities such as Falluja before but seizing many hostages in a town so close to the capital will pile pressure on Iraq's new leaders to deliver the improved security Iraqis have expected since the elections.

SECTARIAN MINEFIELDS

Iraq has yet to form a full government 11 weeks after the polls, with politicians trying to maneuvere round sectarian minefields amid huge political changes after decades of dictatorship under Saddam Hussein.

The majority Shi'ites, long-oppressed under Saddam, have gained power along with Kurds while the Sunni minority has watched vast privileges from past years vanish.

Iraqi officials say they want Sunnis to play a role in the new government, hoping it would help end the insurgency, but there have been no tangible signs of this happening.

Bombs targeting U.S. and Iraqi forces killed at least four people on Friday.

A roadside bomb near the central city of Samarra killed two Iraqi soldiers, an army source said.

A car bomb designed to hit a U.S. military convoy passing through Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood killed at least one person and wounded five, including an American soldier, police and the U.S. military said.

Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq said one of its suicide bombers drove his vehicle into a convoy of American "cross worshippers" in Mansour and inflicted casualties.

"They are still gathering their dead and wounded," the group said in a statement posted on a Web site used by Islamists.

Elsewhere in the capital, a bomb targeting the Iraqi National Guard killed a civilian and wounded three, police said.

BLOODSHED

The attacks were small-scale by Iraq's standards, but reinforced concerns over a resurgence in bloodshed that has been so common over the past two years and which seemed to have subsided since the elections.

On Wednesday and Thursday, at least 10 bomb blasts in Iraq killed more than 30 people, including 15 in twin suicide attacks in central Baghdad.

A U.S. Marine was killed on Thursday by small arms fire in Ramadi, a rebellious city west of Baghdad.

Since the U.S.-led March 2003 invasion of Iraq, more than 1,540 U.S. troops have died.

Iraqis had hoped their leaders would quickly form a government after the polls and take on the daunting challenge of ending suicide bombings, kidnappings and beheadings.

Iraq has appointed a president and prime minister but key interior, oil and defense ministers have yet to be chosen and some people fear the political vacuum will play into the hands of the insurgents.

The scene in Mansour was typical of the violence Iraqi leaders had hoped would diminish after millions of people defied suicide bombers to vote in the national assembly elections.

Bodies lay in the street. Several cars were burned. Smoke and flames rose near a restaurant, witnesses said.

U.S. commanders say the number of insurgent attacks has dropped by about a fifth since the elections, but the scale and sophistication of militant operations seems to have increased.

Earlier this month, a group of 60 insurgents launched an assault on the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad, detonating two car bombs and firing mortars and rockets. U.S. forces repelled the attack after hours of fighting.

At the same time high-profile kidnappings have resumed. An American seized this week from a reconstruction project near the capital was shown in a video broadcast by Al Jazeera television on Wednesday.

The U.S. military hopes that the faster it trains Iraqi security forces, the sooner it will be able to start withdrawing some of the 140,000 U.S. troops in the country.

As well as U.S. forces, there are about 20,000 other foreign troops serving in the U.S.-led coalition, but more and more of them are pulling out.

(Additional reporting by Lutfi Abu Oun and Luke Baker in Baghdad and Sabah al-Bazee in Samarra)

Source

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There will be no good outcome in this. The troops will go in and start firing, people will be killed unless the insurgents give up peacefully. (like thats going to happen)

[ForRizzle]

I love the peaceful muslims tolerance for others.

[zephyr]

Since the terrorists are losing the battle to the Iraqi people who want peace as well as freedom, they are beginning to resort to this kind of action as their last chance for survival. Provoking secterian hatred in the hope of destablizing Iraq, taking mass hostages and forcing people to leave their own homes are just some of the many cheap and dirty tricks the foreign terrorists led by their backward Jordanian leader Zarghawi are pulling on the poor people of Iraq. Hopefully their days are counted now and it won't be long before the Iraqis themselves chase these criminals out of their country; Ensha Allah. Of course the responsibility for the lack of security that allows armed terrorists to roam the towns and terrorize their residents lies with the occupying forces that have so far failed badly in such a vital matter.

ForRizzle, I don't really understand what you're saying there since Shi'ites are Muslims and in this case are the victims of hostage takers and terrorists who have proved many times not to be following Islam, even if they themselves might falsly claim to be (who's going to believe what these criminals say? I certainly don't and don't recommend anybody else does either since actions speak louder than words). They are a bunch of cowards, supported from outside of Iraq by rich fanatics who find nothing better to do with their money than to terrorize people, hijacking Islam itself in the process. Taking innocent people as hostages, murdering or chasing them at gun point from their own homes are NOT parts of Islamic teachings and idealogy.

[__Kratos__]

Taking innocent people as hostages, murdering or chasing them at gun point from their own homes are NOT parts of Islamic teachings and idealogy

Hmm...

"When you meet the unbelievers in jihad , chop off their heads. And when you have brought them low, bind your prisoners rigorously. Then set them free or take ransom from them until the war is ended." (Koran, 47:4)

Source

"Believers, when you encounter the infidels on the march, do not turn your backs to them in flight. If anyone on that day turns his back to them, except it be for tactical reasons...he shall incur the wrath of God and Hell shall be his home..." (Surah 8:12-)

Source

"Make war on them until idolatry shall cease and God's religion shall reign supreme." (Surah 8:36-)

Source

"If you do not fight, He will punish you sternly, and replace you by other men." (Surah 9:37-)

Source

"Believers, make war on the infidels who dwell around you. Deal firmly with them." (Surah 9:121-)

Source

Yeah, thats enough. Look at Muhammad going after the caravans headed to Mecca as an act of terror. He was a terrorist... a religion's founder a terrorist can only really carry on one thing.

[The Caspian Hare]

Indiscriminate attacks against civilians will almost always backfire.

And my psychic powers foresee a lock in this thread's future.

[__Kratos__]

Indiscriminate attacks against civilians will almost always backfire.

And my psychic powers foresee a lock in this thread's future.

576029[/snapback]

Yes, civilians over there are already sick of those guys. They are just making it worse on themselfs.

[zephyr]

Kratos; Those verses that you have quoted deal with specific wars and conflicts the prophet Mohammad was forced to fight in his days, and not as you have wrongly understood them to mean that generally anyone can kill anyone else at any time because they 'think' they're killing 'infidels'. If anybody is going to follow the Quranic Surahs as guidelines for their daily behaviour, or as a means of understanding Islam, a minimum of research is needed into the historical context and the reasons for what is said in the Quran. Words such as 'infidels' and 'jihad' must be the two most misunderstood words in the world; by terrorists who use them to justify their indiscriminate killings of innocent people as well as by people who think they can somehow prove Islam wrong by quoting isolated sentences containing these words; isolated sentences that happen to be parts of much bigger stories. Do you know who the 'infidels' really are? Do you know who is to decide on who's an 'infidel' and who's not? Do you know under what conditions a jihad can be declared, and what authority is needed to do so? Do you know how many different types of jihads there are and that jihad does not necessarily involve arms and killings? I don't think you do, otherwise you wouldn't be quoting those isolated sentences to prove that a quarter of the humanity and the fastest growing religion in the world are all terrorists or followers of terrorists (how irrational)! Calling Mohammad a terrorist stems from the same lack of understanding of Islam and the historical events surrounding the religion and the environment it was evolving in 1400 years ago.

[Sunlit_Coyote]

Cant we all just get along ?

[Michelle]

zephyr, it's a shame that people take the Quran, or the Bible for that matter, and twist their words out of context. That is exactly what the terrorists are doing.

I applaud your patience, with all that's going on in the world and the harshness that people are judging Islam, you are able to keep a cool and rational head.

...maca salama...

[riotboy555]

I'm not sure if this thing's over yet, but I hope it turns out ok.

[zephyr]

Michelle; salam to you too and thanks for your very kind words, I'm not sure I deserve them!

I must say that I'm by no means pretending to be an expert on Islam or be competent enough to defend it (if it needs any defending), just can't stand unfair, ill-informed and biased judging of any phenomenon. However I know that if everyone had an open mind like yours, we would all be experiencing the famous 'heaven on earth'.

[Babs]

I can't believe the terrorists are killing men, women and children in Iraq. Iraqis. They don't care about anyone.

Yes, I know why they are doing it, desperate. But you can see the true colors of these insurgents (terrorists) now.

Irag is a killing field, a bloodbath...and it will continue until it is 'fixed'. It is so much better to fight them in one spot.

"Keep it comin' jerks."

Edited April 21, 2005 by Babs

[warden]

I can't believe the terrorists are killing men, women and children in Iraq. Iraqis.   They don't care about anyone.

Yes, I know why they are doing it,    desperate. But you can see the true colors of these insurgents (terrorists) now.

Irag is a killing field, a bloodbath...and it will continue until it is 'fixed'. It is so much better to fight them in one spot.

"Keep it comin' jerks."

583452[/snapback]

Whats the point of posting this topic when a-se holes get their pleasure in takeing the p*** in other peoples death