SADR LIEUTENANT KILLED AT IP CHECKPOINT, NAJAF REMAINS CALM

C O N F I D E N T I A L HILLAH 000089 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 5/20/2016 TAGS: PGOV PTER KISL IZ SUBJECT: SADR LIEUTENANT KILLED AT IP CHECKPOINT, NAJAF REMAINS CALM AFTER CURFEW LIFTED CLASSIFIED BY: Thomas F. Cooney, A/DRC, REO Al Hillah, Department of State. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. This is a SET NAJAF cable. ¶2. (C) SUMMARY: On May 18, Abbas Al Chilabi, Mahdi Militia leader and member of radical cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr's personal security detail, was killed at a Najaf Iraqi Police (IP) checkpoint. Najaf IP Chief General Abbas Al Moadal stated IPs opened fire after the wedding party was stopped at the checkpoint and Chilabi brandished a pistol. According to Al-Moadal, IP working the checkpoint were not aware of his identity. The precise facts surrounding the episode are in dispute by those close to Muqtada Al Sadr and other members of the wedding party. The governor of Najaf placed the city under a 12 hour curfew following the incident. There have been no reports of violence in the wake of the killing. END SUMMARY. ¶3. (C) Abbas Al Chilabi, a member of Muqtada Al Sadr's personal security detail and a reputed Mahdi Militia commander, was killed after allegedly brandishing a weapon in the direction of IPs manning the checkpoint. The incident took place at an IP checkpoint in the vicinity of Camp David (where a small contingent of U.S. Special Forces are located) in the city of Najaf. Chilabi was traveling with a wedding party that was moving at a high rate of speed. When stopped by the IPs, Chilabi reportedly pulled a pistol and refused to relinquish it. In the ensuing argument, IP reported that Chilabi waved his pistol and fired shots. He was subsequently killed. Another member of the wedding party was wounded and taken to Al Hakim hospital in Najaf. ¶4. (C) In response to the incident, General Abbas Al Moadal, the IP Chief in Najaf, said that the party had been acting irresponsibly. He further noted, "The IP have the legal authority to use deadly force." He claims that the IP had no knowledge of Chilabi's identity. Al Moadal said that a full investigation had begun and would continue until "we can verify all circumstances surrounding the incident." ¶5. (C) Ja'afer Al Hakim, a prominent official in the Najaf branch of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI),the major party in Najaf's provincial government and Muqtada Al-Sadr's principal rivals, said, "We ask both sides to be calm and we ask for Muqtada Al Sadr's view of the incident." According to Al Hakim, "Sadr has always rejected any immature actions that might be perpetrated by his followers." He went on to say that despite the fact that Chilabi was a Sadr bodyguard, he wasn't above the law. Al Hakim noted further that he believed the incident was the work of Baathists trying to drive a wedge between Sadrists and SCIRI and asserted such attempts "would not work." ¶6. (C) For their part, Sadrists called only for a full investigation into the incident. Sheikh Hassan Al Adeli, a member of the Shaheed Allah organization, said that every indication he had was that the victim was unarmed. (NOTE. Shaheed Allah is a charitable organization that works closely with Muqtada Al Sadr. It is also reportedly a source of financing for licit and illicit Sadrist activity. END NOTE.) Reaction by other prominent Sadrists has been restrained as well. At the Friday sermon at Kufa mosque, the main Sadrist mosque in the region, the preacher, made no mention of the incident. There have been no reported protests or acts of violence related to the killing. ¶7. (C) COMMENT. It is unlikely that the IPs would knowingly kill a Sadr lieutenant. As of May 20, it appears that this incident will not cause renewed fighting between the SCIRI-associated Badr Organization and Sadr's Mahdi Militia. SCIRI's denial and ritual accusation that Baathists instigated the incident seems to be enough to satisfy Sadr. This denial is less convincing when one considers the Najaf IP are lead by SCIRI loyalists and there are no openly Baathist members in the province's IP force. END COMMENT. MEURS