Admin schreibt "By Kathleen Ridolfo

Recent reports out of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul leave little doubt that militants have marked the city
as their next base for fighting U.S.-led multinational forces in Iraq. The city has been the scene of sporadic fighting and attacks for several months, and recent reports indicate that the security situation is deteriorating.Militants launched several attacks in the city o­n 4 November.

According to RFE/RL's Radio Free Iraq (RFI) reports, Mosul airport was attacked overnight o­n 3-4
November, and three mortars were fired o­n a U.S. camp in the city. RFI said gunfire and blasts could be
heard throughout Mosul into the morning hours. An elderly Kurdish man, Fahmi Sayyid Sulayman, was
gunned down by militants as he returned home from morning prayers at a mosque. The killing prompted
Kurdistan Democratic Party official Yunis Ruzbayani to warn armed groups in the city to keep their distance from Kurds in Mosul. Clashes broke out later in the day between militants and an Iraqi National Guard unit in the Al-Hadba' district of the city, causing large-scale damage to buildings in the area.

O­ne woman and two guardsmen were injured in the fighting. Additional National Guard units backed by
U.S. forces were called to help quell the violence. Meanwhile, police in the Al-Barid district found an
explosive-laden vehicle. Police cordoned off the area and used loudspeakers to call o­n residents to turn
over their weapons to the government. RFI reported o­n 28 October that fliers could be seen pasted to
walls throughout the city promoting various militant groups. The fliers are also distributed to drivers in the
city center warning businessmen and citizens not to cooperate with the multinational forces.

The groups issuing the fliers include: The Mujahedin Shura Council; Ansar Al-Sunnah Army; Islamic
Army of Iraq; the Secret Islamic Army; Salafis Group; Ansar Al-Islam; the Army of the Prophet's Grandsons (Jaysh Al-Ahfad Al-Rasul); the Green Brigade of Islamic Resistance; Abu Dhar Al-Ghafari Brigade; Al-Hajaj bin Yusif Al-Thaqafi Brigade; Salah Al-Din Al-Ayyubi Brigades; and Jama'at Al-Tawhid wa Al-Jihad, the group affiliated with fugitive Jordanian terrorist Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi. RFI reported that many of the victims targeted by these groups are Kurds and Christians who had no contact with multinational forces. "Al-Zaman" reported o­n 2 November that citizens from minority communities have been leaving the city . Militant groups are using the city's mosques as their unofficial headquarters, RFI reported. The mosques are equipped with computers and Internet access, and stacked with weapons and related documents issued by the groups.

Local imams are reportedly sympathetic to the militants. Their supposed sympathy prompted Ninawa
Governor Durayd Kashmula to call o­n clerics to unite against the militants, RFI reported. "Al-Zaman"
reported o­n 2 November that citizens from minority communities have been leaving the city "in droves."
Christians in the city have complained for months that they were under threat after several attacks. A bomb
exploded outside a Mosul church o­n 1 August, killing o­ne person (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 August
2004). Christian parties issued a statement late last month that said armed groups in the city were
attempting to impose Islamic traditions o­n their members, including forcing women in the city to wear
veils, Al-Diyar television reported o­n 29 October. They also accused militants of forcing real-estate
offices in the city not to deal with Christians. The statement said that panic was spreading throughout the
Christian community in Mosul.

Kurdish residents have also been targeted in a number of attacks, and militants last month threatened
Kurdish restaurant owners along the Mosul highway to close during the Ramadan fasting, even though
travelers are exempt from fasting during Ramadan. The local head of the Kurdistan Women's Union was
kidnapped outside her Mosul home o­n 1 November by armed men in four vehicles. Two tribal leaders,
o­ne of them Kurdish, were assassinated in the city last month (see "RFE/RL Iraq Report," 29 and 8
October). Usama Yusif Kashmula, the previous governor of the province that encompasses Mosul, was
assassinated o­n 14 July.Numerous attacks have also been launched against Iraqi security forces in the
city in recent months. Militants detonated five car bombs and launched Katyusha rockets at the city's
police academy o­n 24 June in o­ne of the deadliest attacks o­n the city that killed dozens of policemen
and civilians and injured scores.

Municipalities and Public Works Minister Nasreen Barwari escaped an assassination attempt in the city
o­n 28 March. Two contract workers, a Canadian and an American, were killed there o­n 29 March. The
2 November "Al-Zaman" report also said that a new "secret police" service has been established in the city
to hunt down the militants.

Lieutenant General Rashid Qaid, who heads the force, said the service intends to track down the militants
terrorizing the city's 1.8 million inhabitants. "We are disappointed to see the security situation deteriorating so rapidly in a city like Mosul," he said. Qaid and his forces have been in the city for o­ne week and have already arrested a number of militants. "I can assure you that those arrested so far are not part of Mosul's mainstream. They do not belong to the city's major tribes.

They are merely lowly elements recruited by forces whose main target is to destabilize the country," he
said. Governor Kashmula announced o­n 3 November -- in a move reminiscent of Al-Fallujah -- that a
division of soldiers comprised of former Iraqi Army troops will soon be o­n duty in Al-Kasak, outside
Mosul. Kashmula said that the unit will be operational by 14 December and will work to restore security to
the governorate. The Al-Fallujah Brigades was established and led by former Iraqi Army officers to help quell the violence in that city in April. It was dismantled in September after it was suspected of aiding insurgents in that volatile city (see "RFE/RL Iraq Report," 16 September 2004). U.S.-backed Iraqi forces
have launched a number of operations targeting militants holed up in mosques in recent days. o­ne such
operation was carried out o­n 22 October at the Dhu Al-Nurayn Mosque during Friday prayers.

Al-Arabiyah television reported that day that the operation targeted armed militants, while Al-Jazeera
interviewed local leader Sheikh Rayyan Tawfiq, who claimed that the operation aimed to locate would-be
suicide bombers. Tawfiq contended that the true targets of the operation were the mosque, Ramadan, and
Friday prayers, adding, "The aim is to cause humiliation." Al-Sharqiyah television reported o­n 30
October that some 1,500 Iraqis, including imams and preachers, demonstrated after Friday prayers in the
city, calling o­n U.S. forces to stop raiding the city's mosques.