Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06HILLAH89
2006-05-20 17:56:00
CONFIDENTIAL
REO Hillah
Cable title:
SADR LIEUTENANT KILLED AT IP CHECKPOINT, NAJAF REMAINS CALM
how-toVZCZCXRO1732 RR RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHMOS DE RUEHIHL #0089 1401756 ZNY CCCCC ZZH R 201756Z MAY 06 FM REO HILLAH TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0631 INFO RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD 0617 RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE RUEHIHL/REO HILLAH 0682
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)
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
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