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Najaf militia a 'terror'
13/05/2004 20:28 - (SA)
Najaf - The newly-appointed Najaf police chief said on Thursday that militiamen in this holy Shiite city were "terrorising" residents and asked them to leave, one day after the police headquarters was ransacked.
"No security means the absence of state institutions and the reign of the laws of the jungle," General Ghaleb al-Jazairi said as he was inspecting the damaged headquarters.
"We are going to work to protect the rule of law and to eliminate all militia who are terrorising the children and people of Iraq".
He said he wanted Najaf to "be spared bloodshed and suffering" and for the militia to "disband peacefully", claiming he was willing to sacrifice his own life to rid the city of lawlessness.
Jazairi said he had assumed his duties on Thursday, after his predecessor, General Ali Hadi al-Yasiri, was recalled to Baghdad.
Mehdi Army militiamen loyal to Shiite radical leader Moqtada Sadr ransacked the police headquarters and seized a senior officer at gunpoint overnight, prompting clashes that left three Iraqis dead, police and medics said.
Jazairi called the overnight attack "a stab in the back", saying that armed men had tricked the policemen on duty to gain entry to the building by telling them they "wanted to negotiate with them."
The new chief said one policeman was killed in the confrontation and about 100 assault rifles were stolen as well as ammunition and police vehicles. Jazairi's office was destroyed and furniture broken up.
He refused to comment on reports that militiamen beat up General Hassan Lilu, deputy to the previous police chief and head of the security force in charge of protecting Najaf's Imam Ali Shrine before it was taken over by Sadr's men more than a month ago.
Earlier, police officers at the building during the attack said Lilu was taken away at gunpoint. Officials at Sadr's office in Najaf were not immediately available for comment.
On May 6, the US-led coalition appointed a new governor for Najaf, Adnan al-Zorfi, who on Thursday repeated his calls for Sadr to disband his militia "unconditionally".
On Wednesday, Sadr vowed to carry on fighting the coalition and die a martyr.
- AFP
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