Anbar officials envision upsurge in violence as polls approach

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Politicians and security officials from Anbar have described recent attacks in the province as “a harbinger of bloodier days in the countdown to national elections in January,” The Los Angeles Times said on Wednesday. “A car bomb exploded Tuesday in a crowded residential area in the western Iraqi town of Amiriya, killing at least 11 people and wounding 31, medical personnel said,” the newspaper said in a report. “Once the main base for Al Qaeda in Iraq, Anbar province became known as the first region where Sunni Muslims successfully turned against the hard-line Islamic group, starting in late 2006.” “Though far quieter now, the province has still not rid itself of the fighters. The hard-liners aim to topple the government in Baghdad and view the sheiks who rebelled against them as traitors,” according to the report. “We think the violence has increased as we approach the elections,” the newspaper quoted Khalid Awani, the head of the Iraqi Islamic Party in Anbar, a Sunni group, as saying. “The violence was the result of both Al Qaeda in Iraq’s continued presence in Anbar province, Awani said, and the desire to settle scores among tribesmen who still support armed struggle and those now opposed to it.” “After the bombing in Amiriya, Sheik Lawrence Mutib Hasan, a tribal leader in Anbar, warned that the police and army in the province were infiltrated by armed groups and needed to be purged. ‘We need time to clean up the security apparatus,’ he said.” SS (S)/SR 1