BAGHDAD BUSINESSES TARGETED IN ATTACKS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 001097

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/30/2016
TAGS: PHUM PNAT ECON EFIN KCRM KDEM IZ
SUBJECT: BAGHDAD BUSINESSES TARGETED IN ATTACKS

REF: EMAIL 3/29/06 AMMAN

Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ROBERT S. FORD, FOR
REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).


1. (C) Summary. Businesses in Baghdad have been
increasingly targeted as insurgents, criminals, and
elements dressed as Iraqi Security Force (ISF) members
concentrate on soft targets. These businesses have
been targeted in two ways: small-scale but violent
attacks on small entities such as bakeries and
organized raids on larger businesses, often by groups
dressed in ISF uniforms. The latter attacks have
become more prominent in the past week. At least six
companies were targeted over a four-day period March
27-30, resulting in the abduction and/or killings of
numerous employees. Ministry of Interior officials
deny involvement in such raids, but the use by these
criminal groups of both MoI-type uniforms and vehicles
have made business owners fearful, not only of
insurgent attacks, but also of police. Private sector
contacts say that they are conducting business behind
closed doors, or may begin to shut down until things
cool down. End Summary.

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EXTRA-JUDICIAL RAIDS BECOME PROMINENT
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2. (C) During the four-day period between March 27 and
30, several companies in high-end districts in Baghdad
were targeted by organized groups. Mansour District
Advisory Council (DAC) member, Adil Al-Dehan, alleged
to PolFSN April 2 that the attack on Al Ibtikar
company March 29 resulted in 17 deaths and the
abduction of the branch director (the media reported
only 8 deaths). Al-Dehan also confirmed a March 28
raid on Daewoo electric appliance branch, where a
number of employees were taken hostage by criminals
dressed in ISF uniforms. Al-Dehan noted that these
attacks had become more prominent in the past week,
but was unable to point to the reason why.


3. (C) Abdul Sata al-Ru'ay from the Karkh District
Council confirmed to PolFSN April 2 media reports of
an extrajudicial raid March 28 on Musa Bin Nasir
Exchange company in which money was stolen and six
employees were abducted. Not reported by the media,
he alleged, was a similar raid on a Baghdad food
company in Mansour where 13 employees were killed and
2 seriously injured.


4. (C) The Al-Said Group sent Embassy Amman a letter (REF)
which stated that on March 27, individuals dressed in police
uniforms and using police cars detained 18 workers at
the Al-Said offices in Al Mansour and drove them all
to the MoI parking lot in al-Khadamiya. This attack
was reported by local and international media. The
Al-Said company further reported that the six Shia
employees were released shortly thereafter while the
remaining twelve (presumably Sunnis) remain
unaccounted for. According to Al-Said sources, the
police are now seeking out the freed individuals and
have managed to talk with Faisal Mohammed Ali, one of
the six, to warn him to leave Baghdad.


5. (C) These accounts represent a subsection of seven
reports that have emerged in the international and
local media, but whose details have not yet been
confirmed by MoI. In almost all cases, the raids were
allegedly conducted by individuals dressed in MoI
uniforms and sometimes driving MoI vehicles. However,
MoI's Deputy Minister for Police Services Ali Ghalib
stressed to Poloff April 1 that none of the raids
reported in the media were conducted by MoI forces.

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SMALL BUSINESSES TARGETED BUT IN DIFFERENT MANNER
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6. (C) Sadiq Thamir of the Human Rights and Justice
Organization noted to PolFSN April 2 that that the
security situation for businesses had become more
dismal over the past few weeks. Both he and several
Baghdad residents have reported stories of local
neighborhood butchers or bakers being gunned down or
abducted from their shops. One local hire who lives
in the Shia majority neighborhood of Baghdad Jadida
reported on April 2 that his family butcher and sons
were shot dead that same day in their store by an
unknown assailant. Another local hire living in

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Ghazaliya has reported numerous occasions in February
and March that bakeries in his neighborhood were
increasingly being targeted, especially because of the
ease with which terrorist can track store employees.

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COMMENT
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7. (C) MoI Minister Bayan Jabr recently was quoted in
the news March 29 as saying that the Ministry would be
developing a new security plan for commercial
establishments. However, these plans may not be
enough for businesses who believe that militia
elements within MoI are responsible for these attacks.
We will continue to monitor the frequency of these
events which make the environment for business growth
and stability difficult.
KHALILZAD