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Green Zone under renewed attacks

BAGHDAD: Sixteen persons died in Baghdad’s Sadr City as clashes between security forces and Shia militiamen continued in the capital on Wednesday, the fifth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.

The city’s Green Zone, which houses diplomatic missions and much of Iraq’s government, also came under renewed attack by rockets or mortars early Wednesday. The U.S. embassy confirmed the shelling, but said there were no immediate reports of casualties.

The bloodshed served as stark reminders of Iraq’s continuing instability five years after U.S. troops swept into Baghdad on April 9, 2003. The euphoria of victory soon dissipated — pummelled first by a Sunni militany, then Sunni-Shia clashes and now battles against Shia militiamen.

Twenty-seven persons were wounded, said a hospital official.

On Tuesday, an Iraqi military spokesman said 82 militants, 36 civilians and 37 soldiers had been killed since March 16 in fighting in Baghdad, mostly in Sadr City.

At least 12 American service members have died in Iraq since Sunday, and the shelling of the Green Zone has become almost a daily occurrence.

In Washington, U.S. commander Gen. David Petraeus called on Tuesday for an open-ended suspension of U.S. troop withdrawals this summer because of concern over the renewed fighting.

As the number of U.S. forces in Iraq has gradually come down in the past three months, the number of high-profile car bomb and suicide attacks, weekly security incidents, civilian casualties and episodes of ethno-sectarian violence has gone up.

In his testimony to a congressional committee, Gen. Petraeus refused to give any indication that more troops could leave Iraq this year, after the last of five brigades ordered into the country for the buildup last year have come home. About 1,40,000 U.S. troops, including 15 brigades, are expected to be in Iraq at the end of July, down from the roughly 1,60,000 there now.

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