Five killed in gunfight during raid on home of Iraqi MP

Five killed in gunfight during raid on home of Iraqi MP

Brother of Sunni Muslim MP killed in incident that threatens to further inflame sectarian tensions in Iraq

A gunfight broke out as the home of a Sunni Muslim Iraqi MP was raided by security forces on Saturday, the latest sign of the country's security breakdown.

At least five people were killed in the exchange, including the MP's brother, Ali Alwani. One report said his sister had also died.

The MP, Ahmed Alwani, was arrested, in a move that threatens to inflame sectarian tension in the country.

Ahmed Alwani is a prominent spokesman for Iraq's Sunni minority, and had supported protests against the country's Shia leader, Nouri Al-Maliki, which the government has condemned as a haven for al-Qaeda, which has a well-established presence in the area.

 

Police insisted that the raid targeted the dead brother who was wanted on terrorism charges. But a decision by the Iraqi special forces to post a picture of Mr Alwani, the MP, lying face down and bruised, on their Facebook page is unlikely to calm feelings in the terror-riven province of Anbar he represented in parliament.

A strengthening of al-Qaeda forces in Sunni areas of Iraq, in particular following the success of its affiliates Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams and Jabhat al-Nusra in the civil war in neighbouring Syria, has coincided with a growing sense of local alienation from Mr Maliki's ruling Shia alliance.

Mr Alwani had frequently spoken at the anti-government protest camp near his home in Ramadi, despite claims by Mr Maliki that it had "turned into a headquarters for the leadership of Al-Qaeda".

The defence ministry said that when the security forces arrived, the two brothers and their bodyguards opened fire, injuring a number of the raiding party. In the return of fire, Ali Alwani and five bodyguards were killed.

Altogether 18 people were injured. Police said automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenade launchers were found at the scene.

The arrest of Mr Alwani was condemned by Osama al-Nujaifi, the speaker of parliament, who is also Sunni. He said that MPs have constitutional immunity from arrest.

That immunity is waived in the case of being caught in the act of a serious crime, but Lieutenant-General Ali Ghaidan, commander of Iraqi ground forces, said that the men carrying out the raid already had a warrant for the MP's arrest, not just for that of his brother.

Reports from the United States last week said that Mr Maliki's embattled government was being reinforced by arms supplies from Washington in the face of a worsening series of terror attacks.

If true, the news only confirms the confusion of western policy in the region, with Iraq's government-aligned Shia militias also reinforcing the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, which the US wants to bring down.