Crime after crime

As violence continues to claim more lives, fears are growing that Iraq's lack of security poses the greatest threat to the country's political future. Omayma Abdel-Latif investigates

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Iraqis rush to the scene of an explosion in Basra in southern Iraq on Wednesday morning. Three nearly simultaneous bombings took place near police stations across the city during the morning rush hour, killing at least 68 Iraqis, including 23 schoolchildren, and wounding about 100 people.

Less than 24 hours after Tuesday's mortar attack on Abu Ghraib prison complex which left 22 inmates dead and scores injured, Basra, Iraq's second largest city, witnessed yet another wave of deadly attacks targeting three police stations.

The attacks were the first against police stations in several weeks. There were conflicting reports about the death toll of what were believed to be four suicide car bombings but most reports put the number at 68 dead and 100 injured. School children were among the victims. The attacks claimed no casualties among the United States-led occupation troops.

The ongoing attacks at such a massive scale are raising questions about the failure of the US-led occupation troops to restore security to Iraq almost one year after the invasion.

"Today another crime -- a massacre -- has been committed," Sameer Sumaidie, the Iraqi interior minister told reporters on Wednesday. "They killed another group of innocent children to reach their victory. The terrorists want to leave Iraq in chaos," he added.

As Al-Ahram Weekly went to print no group had claimed responsibility for the deadly attacks. Nevertheless Iraqi Governing Council officials were quick to claim the attacks bore the fingerprints of Al-Qa'eda.

In a separate attack also on Wednesday, two car bombs hit a police academy in the town of Zubair. The attack also claimed the lives of three Iraqis and left four British soldiers wounded.

Attacks on Iraqi police and their facilities have become an almost daily occurrence. More than 400 Iraqi policemen have been killed since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. Unlike many other Iraqi cities, Basra has enjoyed relative calm during the year of occupation. Tension, however, has reached new heights over the past few weeks as Iraqi Shia have begun to act upon their bitter anger at what they consider the use of brute force by the US-led occupation troops against Iraqi civilians.

The latest bombings also overshadowed the debate on transferring sovereignty to the Iraqis. Given the lack of any accepted formula to transfer power, coupled with the deteriorating security situation, the future of any transfer process is fraught with great uncertainties.

On Wednesday, the London-based As-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported that the Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari will request at the next Arab foreign ministers' meeting -- due to be held in Cairo next month -- that Arab states dispatch peace- keeping forces to Iraq to help improve the security situation. The paper also reported that the United Nations secretary-general's special envoy to Iraq Lakhdar Labrahimi was also in favour of broad participation by the Arab states in peace-keeping activities in Iraq.

The Basra bombings coincided with the breach of a fragile cease-fire in Falluja between occupation troops and Iraqis when fighting broke out between US troops and Iraqi resistance fighters.

The cease-fire was a culmination of mediation efforts carried out by members of the Iraqi Islamic Party and the occupation authorities. Falluja has been the centre of resistance activities during the year-long occupation.

The city, however, has paid a high price for its activities. The latest round of fighting left more than 700 Iraqis dead. The occupation troops' causalities were set at 70 soldiers, rising to 100 in April. Although in principle the lull still holds, one source involved in the mediation efforts said it was unlikely to last as the Americans insist that the Iraqi resistance fighters should disarm.

This view was further confirmed by the statement made by General Richard Myers, chairman of US Joint Chiefs of Staff. Myers was reported to have told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that Falluja was "a rat nest" which needs to be dealt with through the use of force. "It is still festering today and it needs to be dealt with," he was quoted by AFP as saying. It is precisely this kind of perception that has brought tension to new heights in what were generally calm areas.

The holy city of Najaf was also scene of a similar stand-off between the religious authorities and the locals on the one hand and the US occupation troops on the other. The build-up of US troops around the city has caused the ire of the religious seminary whose members have threatened that any military attack against Najaf will open "the gates of hell" to the occupation troops.

Similarly, the stand-off between the young Shia leader Muqtada Al-Sadr and the US troops still holds. American military officials insist that Al- Sadr should be either captured or killed but his followers have warned that they will stage "a revolution" if their leader is harmed.

The US is also demanding that Al- Mehdi army -- a militia formed by Al- Sadr -- be dissolved immediately. Al- Sadr said that this is pending a fatwa -- edict -- from the religious seminary in Najaf.

There has not been any breakthrough in the mediation efforts between US troops and Al-Sadr. "If the Americans invaded Najaf, it won't only be Muqtada Al-Sadr's people who fight -- all the people will fight," said Walid Al- Hilli, a member of the Islamist Dawaa Party. "Najaf does not belong to Muqtada Al-Sadr. It does not even belong to the Shia. It belongs to all Muslims. It is like invading the Vatican."