An Iranian-backed Shiite militia is expected to give up its weapons and support the political process, The Associated Press is reporting. The group, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, has yet to turn in its arms, but Amir al-Khzaie, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s adviser for reconciliation, said the group is expected to.
Al-Khzaie added the group wants to play a constructive role in Iraqi politics, and even want to run in the next parliamentary election under a new name. The group, also known as the Band of the Righteous, is an armed splinter group. They split from radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s own political movement that was formed to fight the American presence in Iraq, which ended last month when the last U.S. troops left the country.
The news comes after roadside bombs killed two Shiite pilgrims during a string of explosions in Baghdad on January 6. The explosions come a day after the country’s deadliest sectarian violence in more than a year. The new attacks raised concern that a renewal of the Sunni versus Shiite conflict would emerge, several years after a civil war almost broke out.
There were no claims of responsibility over the attacks, however. At least three bombs exploded in Baghdad, leaving two people killed and 17 people wounded. The bombs were targeted against Shiite pilgrims making their way to the sacred city of Karbala for a holy day.
Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said some of the projectiles landed outside Baghdad’s heavily protected Green Zone. They were intended to disrupt an annual army parade, and were a sign that insurgents are trying “to prove their presence.”
Written by: Karen Benardello
