Aid groups: Humanitarian woes grow in Baghdad's Sadr City

By BRADLEY BROOKS, Associated Press Writer Wed May 7, 4:03 PM ET

BAGHDAD - Entire sections of Baghdad's embattled Sadr City district have been left nearly abandoned by civilians fleeing a U.S.-led showdown with Shiite militias and seeking aid after facing shortages of food and medicine, humanitarian groups said Wednesday.

The reports by the agencies, including the U.N. children's fund, add to the individual accounts by civilians pouring out of the Sadr City area as clashes intensify.

U.S. forces have increased air power and armored patrols in the attempt to cripple Shiite militia influence in Sadr City, a slum of 2.5 million people that serves as the Baghdad base for the Mahdi Army led by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

The battles started in late March after the Iraqi government opened a crackdown on militias and armed gangs in the southern city of Basra, including some groups Washington says have links to Iran.

Claire Hajaj, a UNICEF spokeswoman based in Jordan, said up to 150,000 people — including 75,000 children — were isolated in sections of Sadr City "cordoned off by military forces."

She said about 6,000 people have been forced to flee their homes and that some areas of southeastern Sadr City were virtually abandoned.

The U.S. military is trying to weaken the militia grip in the slum and disrupt rocket and mortar strikes from Sadr City on the U.S.-protected Green Zone, which includes the U.S. Embassy and key Iraqi government offices.

The fighting has prevented aid workers from reaching residents of the neighborhood, and in past weeks has led to shortages of water, food and medicine, Hajaj said.

She noted, however, that the water shortage seems to have abated in recent days, and the Iraqi government and U.S. forces have been able to restore some basic services to certain areas.

Tahseen al-Sheikhly, the spokesman for the civilian side of the Baghdad security operations, told reporters that some groups have exaggerated the number of civilians fleeing Sadr City and that "our figures are far less than these figures." But he did not provide specific numbers.

An official with the Iraqi Red Crescent said about 1,200 people who fled Sadr City were fed by the organization on Tuesday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Medical care also has been limited by the fighting, Hajaj said.

She said the Habibiya Maternity Hospital — the one maternity medical facility in the neighborhood — has essentially shut down, with "access extremely limited because it is in one of the most dangerous, militia-dominated parts" of Sadr City.

"Emergency assistance can not cover all the needs in Sadr City," said Siri Elverland, a spokeswoman in Jordan for the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs.

She said the "resumption of commercial activity ... and public service delivery" is essential and can only happen "when there is a cessation or pause in fighting."

U.S. commanders have stressed that they are pushing to restore services — water, electricity, garbage collection — to areas once the security situation permits.

U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner, speaking at the same news conference as al-Sheikhly, said the military is "responding appropriately" to militants firing rockets into the Green Zone while also "taking precautions to limit the impact on innocent civilians."

Meanwhile, al-Arabiya television identified the leader of an al-Qaida in Iraq umbrella group as Hamid Dawoud al-Zawi, a former member of Saddam Hussein's army who joined the Sunni-led insurgency after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Previously, the leader of the group, known as the Islamic State of Iraq, was identified as Abu Omar al-Baghdadi.

The Al-Arabiya report cited the source as an Iraqi police official, but gave no further details. The U.S. military would not comment on the authenticity of the report, citing security reasons.

"Regardless of his 'real' identity, however, al-Baghdadi is a 'figurehead' to give the public appearance of Iraqi leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq," said U.S. military spokesman Maj. Winfield S. Danielson. "The real leader of al-Qaida in Iraq is the Egyptian Abu Ayyub al-Masri."

In Kuwait, a Sunni fundamentalist linked to al-Qaida, Mubarak al-Bathali, was quoted as saying Iran provides "weapons and money" to Sunni insurgents in Iraq.

Mostly Shiite Iran has been accused by Washington of aiding Shiite militias in Iraq, but al-Bathali claimed Tehran is seeking use all Iraqi groups to keep U.S. forces "too busy" to consider a military stike on Iran. Al-Bathali, in an interview with the Al-Qabas daily, offered no firm evidence to back up the claim.

In January, the U.N. Security Council added al-Bathali and two other Kuwaitis to a list of about 480 people and businesses linked to al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The Pentagon, meanwhile, confirmed that a Kuwaiti who had been imprisoned at Guantanamo carried out a recent suicide attack in Iraq.

Abdallah Salih al-Ajmi took part in one of three suicide bomb attacks last month in the northern city of Mosul, said U.S. Navy Cmdr. Scott Rye, a military spokesman.

It appears to be the first time a former Guantanamo detainee has carried out a suicide attack, said a Pentagon spokesman, Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon.

Al-Ajmi, 29, was transferred in 2005 to Kuwait, where the government was supposed to ensure he would not pose a threat. In May 2006, a Kuwaiti court acquitted him and four other former Guantanamo prisoners of terrorism charges.

Dubai-based al-Arabiya television, citing a cousin of al-Ajmi, reported last week that he had carried out a suicide attack, but the U.S. military could not confirm it until Wednesday.

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Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub in Baghdad and Maggie Michael in Cairo, Egypt, contributed to this report.