News Independent UK Foreigners who came to fight for Saddam turn guns on Shias
Sectarian violence
By Kim Sengupta in Saddam City
20 April 2003
"What is your first name?" the young man with blood on his face was asked. "Saddam," came the answer. What is your family name? Again: "Saddam." Who do you fight for? "Saddam."
The man being questioned, with his arms tied behind his back, admitted to being a Fedayeen, but he refused to say which country he was from. His captors, Shia Muslim militia in Saddam City, thought his accent was that of a Yemeni. In the past 10 days, they claimed, they had also captured Algerians, Palestinians and Pakistanis � Sunni Muslim "Wahabi terrorists" sent to carry out murderous sectarian attacks.
A vicious secret war is taking place in Saddam City, the vast Shia slum just 20 minutes' drive from the centre of Baghdad. Local people say they are the victims of the "Wahabis", Sunnis who came to fight for Saddam Hussein against the Americans, and have now turned their guns on them.
US officials in Baghdad acknowledge privately that Sunni fighters, financed from Saudi Arabia, are in Iraq and have been attacking Shia areas. On the other side, they say, Iranians are backing Shias. The Americans, however, do not appear to be doing anything about this emerging civil war. Not one soldier or tank could be found in Saddam City.
Sectarian violence
By Kim Sengupta in Saddam City
20 April 2003
"What is your first name?" the young man with blood on his face was asked. "Saddam," came the answer. What is your family name? Again: "Saddam." Who do you fight for? "Saddam."
The man being questioned, with his arms tied behind his back, admitted to being a Fedayeen, but he refused to say which country he was from. His captors, Shia Muslim militia in Saddam City, thought his accent was that of a Yemeni. In the past 10 days, they claimed, they had also captured Algerians, Palestinians and Pakistanis � Sunni Muslim "Wahabi terrorists" sent to carry out murderous sectarian attacks.
A vicious secret war is taking place in Saddam City, the vast Shia slum just 20 minutes' drive from the centre of Baghdad. Local people say they are the victims of the "Wahabis", Sunnis who came to fight for Saddam Hussein against the Americans, and have now turned their guns on them.
US officials in Baghdad acknowledge privately that Sunni fighters, financed from Saudi Arabia, are in Iraq and have been attacking Shia areas. On the other side, they say, Iranians are backing Shias. The Americans, however, do not appear to be doing anything about this emerging civil war. Not one soldier or tank could be found in Saddam City.
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