Wire: US-Backed Iraqi Troops Quell Baghdad Uprising

Off the Wire:

WASHINGTON, March 29, 2009 -- Newswires reported Sunday afternoon that U.S.-backed Iraqi forces swept through a central Baghdad neighborhood Sunday, disarming Sunnis from a government-allied paramilitary group to quell a two-day uprising launched to protest the arrest of their leader.

The Associated Press reported that at least four people were killed and 21 wounded in the two days of fighting between government troops and the Awakening Council in Fadhil, on the east side of the Tigris River in an area once contested by al-Qaida.

AP reported the following news:

The confrontation in Fadhil could be explosive if it leads to a split between the Shiite-led government and the Awakening Councils, made up of Sunnis who abandoned al-Qaida and joined forces with the Americans to fight the insurgents.

Distrust runs deep between the Shiite-led government and the Awakening Councils, which the U.S. calls Sons of Iraq, because many of them are ex-insurgents. There have been fears that some fighters may return to the insurgency if they feel threatened by the government.

That could undermine U.S. plans to remove all combat troops from Baghdad and other cities by the end of June and end the U.S. combat role in Iraq by September 2010.

Members of the Fadhil council said Sunday they decided to give up the fight and hand over their weapons.

Some fighters were still holding out, however. An Iraqi patrol, accompanied by an Associated Press photo and video team, came under heavy fire.

(Report from a commercial news source.)

Source.

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