Gunmen snatch Iraqi Tribal Sheiks!

edition.cnn.com...

10 Sheiks, including 3 Shiites and 7 Sunnis, tribal leaders, were kidnapped after leaving a meeting with PM al-Maliki's cabinet. They were kidnapped in a "Mehdi Army" area, but no one knows who did it yet.

This could have very, very grave implications. If renegade mehdi army fighters took them and kill the 7 sunni sheiks, it will ignite the furor of ALL Sunni fighters, those for Al-Qaeda and those against Al-Qaeda, effectively destroying the fragile Coalition-Sunni alliance vs Al-Qaeda in the North and West.

Tribal shieks hold all the power, all the sway. They are literally living patriarchs, who have superiority over every single family in relation to them, or living in their village or town. All the families. Shieks are the ones who broker ceasefires between militants and US forces. Shieks are the ones who expelled Al-Qaeda from Anbar mostly.

I am very worried about this.. very explosive situation. This could be worse than the Imam Ali Shrine bombing.

If anyone hears updates, post to this thread so we can stay updated.

[edit on 10/28/2007 by runetang]

reply to post by runetang



You can relax a bit. It's not even close to the Imam Ali shrine bombing ramifications.


news.yahoo.com...

A relative of one of the abducted Shiite sheiks blamed Sunni extremists and said the attackers picked a Shiite neighborhood to "create strife between Shiite and Sunni tribes that have united against al-Qaida in the area."

But, Jassim Zeidan al-Anbaqi said, "this will not happen."

If Al-Qaeda affiliates took them and if those Sheiks all end up executed, the situation will get pretty close to post-Imam Ali bomb.

You're right though, as of right now it isn't. I just know how vitally important Sheiks are to a tribal people, and if you kill the Sheik, the entire tribe will goto war over it.

Those 10 Sheiks are all of Diyala province, however it is spelled, where alot of this anti-al-qaeda sunni tribal alliances are fighting against the insurgents right now alongside coalition forces.

I just hope they dont turn up dead.. that is a time bomb waiting to go off.

Originally posted by runetang
If Al-Qaeda affiliates took them and if those Sheiks all end up executed, the situation will get pretty close to post-Imam Ali bomb.

You're right though, as of right now it isn't. I just know how vitally important Sheiks are to a tribal people, and if you kill the Sheik, the entire tribe will goto war over it.

Those 10 Sheiks are all of Diyala province, however it is spelled, where alot of this anti-al-qaeda sunni tribal alliances are fighting against the insurgents right now alongside coalition forces.

I just hope they dont turn up dead.. that is a time bomb waiting to go off.

Coincidentally, Diyala province is where i'm currently at. And you're right they've (namely the 1920 Brigades) done the same thing that has been done in Anbar province, they've allied themselves against Al-Qaeda here in Diyala.

Luckily, it appears the Sheiks may have been released. They were apparently kidnapped by a rogue former Mahdi army commander.

news.yahoo.com...

Police said one of the Sunnis in the group — seized from their cars in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood — was shot to death, but Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mohammed al-Askari said the rest were freed on Monday. He declined to specify how many or give more details.

The U.S. military, citing intelligence sources, said Monday that a rogue Shiite militia leader was responsible for the abduction, identifying him as Arkan Hasnawi, a former brigade commander in the Mahdi Army militia, which is nominally loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Right,

I just read up on the status of the kidnapping.

Apparently it was misreported originally, and there were 7 or 8 Shiites and 3 Sunni.

The Shiites have all been released.

The dead body of one of the Sunni Sheiks was found near the scene, and the other 2 Sunni Sheiks are being held still.

This isn't good. Why is this no-name Shiite Iranian gimp boy and his posse trying to help out Al-Qaeda, who's fighters have killed the relatives of the Shiite group member's families etc?