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| Iraq crisis: Shia volunteers confront Sunni insurgents in Samarra | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Thousands of Shia fighters have rushed to the central Iraqi city of Samarra to defend two shrines that were blown up by insurgents eight years ago, sparking the sectarian war that almost destroyed the country. | |
| Convoys of fighters were seen being escorted north by Iraqi police trucks from Baghdad early on Friday and many have now reached the city where insurgents were in control after a lightning strike south. | |
| The volunteer Shia fighters were quickly assembled after Iraqi forces abandoned their positions in most of the area, leaving only a small number of troops to guard the Imam al-Askarien shrines. | The volunteer Shia fighters were quickly assembled after Iraqi forces abandoned their positions in most of the area, leaving only a small number of troops to guard the Imam al-Askarien shrines. |
| Samarra is the fourth northern city to have all but fallen out of government control. The embattled prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, appears to have drawn battle lines further south in Taiji, hoping to defend Baghdad against insurgents who have occupied the north virtually unopposed. | Samarra is the fourth northern city to have all but fallen out of government control. The embattled prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, appears to have drawn battle lines further south in Taiji, hoping to defend Baghdad against insurgents who have occupied the north virtually unopposed. |
| The fast-moving insurgency has emerged as the biggest threat to Iraq's stability since the US withdrawal at the end of 2011. Barack Obama on Thursday set the stage for renewed US military action in Iraq when he said his national security chiefs were looking at any and every way they could help the Iraqi authorities take the fight to the thousands of Sunni jihadists who have vowed to march on the capital. | |
| White House officials said the president did not envision any circumstances in which ground troops could return to the country. Air strikes, however, are under active consideration. | |
| Heavy clashes broke out by late Friday on the outskirts of Samarra between the Shia volunteers and Sunni insurgents who had been trying to win over residents, some of whom appear to view the new arrivals as liberators. | Heavy clashes broke out by late Friday on the outskirts of Samarra between the Shia volunteers and Sunni insurgents who had been trying to win over residents, some of whom appear to view the new arrivals as liberators. |
| Witnesses said the shrines remained undamaged so far and that the insurgents had not been menacing residents. "Some of them have long hair and they are carrying black flags," said one man. "They are Arabs from other countries." | Witnesses said the shrines remained undamaged so far and that the insurgents had not been menacing residents. "Some of them have long hair and they are carrying black flags," said one man. "They are Arabs from other countries." |
| The Samarra shrines were twice reduced to rubble in February and April 2006 in attacks that sparked a brutal two-year sectarian war across Iraq. Since then, Shia Islamic sites have remained key targets as insurgent groups, led by the Islamic State of Iraq in the Levant (Isis) try to draw the Shia-led government back into the fight. | |
| A representative of Iraq's most influential Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, urged his followers in a sermon at Friday prayers in Kerbala to take up arms against the Sunni insurgents. "People who are capable of carrying arms and fighting the terrorists in defence of their country … should volunteer to join the security forces to achieve this sacred goal," said Sheikh Abdulmehdi al-Karbalai. | |
| Meanwhile, Iraqi officials who remained in the northern city of Kirkuk, which was seized by Kurdish peshmerga forces on Thursday, said the Kurds were consolidating their presence. | Meanwhile, Iraqi officials who remained in the northern city of Kirkuk, which was seized by Kurdish peshmerga forces on Thursday, said the Kurds were consolidating their presence. |
| "They came to stay," said one police captain on Friday. "They're not going anywhere." | "They came to stay," said one police captain on Friday. "They're not going anywhere." |
| The Kurdish control of Kirkuk, a city coveted by them for centuries, is one of the biggest shifts in a week that has starkly exposed the impotence of the government and the frailty of Iraq's borders. | The Kurdish control of Kirkuk, a city coveted by them for centuries, is one of the biggest shifts in a week that has starkly exposed the impotence of the government and the frailty of Iraq's borders. |
| Officials in Baghdad have conceded that the country is at increasing risk of crumbling along ethnic sectarian lines. | Officials in Baghdad have conceded that the country is at increasing risk of crumbling along ethnic sectarian lines. |
| Isis has been handing out flyers in the towns it has seized assuring residents who have remained that it is there to protect their interests. The campaign for hearts and minds is gaining some traction, with some residents railing against perceived injustices at the hands of the Shia majority government. But on Thursday it said it would introduce sharia law in Mosul and other towns, warning women to stay indoors and threatening to cut off the hands of thieves. "People, you have tried secular regimes … This is now the era of the Islamic state," it proclaimed. | |
| Iraqi officials estimate the total number of Isis forces in Iraq at around 6,000. |