New militant group replacing Isis ink Mosul, says city governorIsis fighters have partially withdrawn from Iraqs second city, Mosul, where another militant group - closely linked to former members of Saddam Husseins regime - has taken over large areas, according to the citys governor. In an interview with the Guardian the governor, Atheel Nujaifi, who escaped from Mosul last month, said the Islamic States main strike force had withdrawn from the city to fight the Iraqi army further south in Tikrit, he said. A smaller number of local Isis supporters remained in Mosuls western part, known as the right bank, he said. Last month Isis staged a stunning advance, seizing Mosul and Tikrit, and raising the spectre of Iraqs collapse. On Tuesday the Iraqi army was forced to retreat from Tikrit, Saddam Husseins birthplace, 100 miles north of Baghdad, after its latest attempt to retake the city met heavy Isis resistance. Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the king of clubs according to the US defence department Photograph: US Department Of Defense/EPA But according to Nujaifi, most of the eastern half of Mosul is now dominated by the Naqshbandi Army, a group led by high-ranking Saddam-era Baathists including Izzat al-Douri, the king of clubs in the US deck of wanted Iraqi playing cards. Naqshbandi militants had taken down Isis flags from a lot of buildings and replaced them with their own, he said. Other sources inside Mosul confirmed that Isis fighters began to withdraw from the city about a week ago. Advertisement The lightning Isis offensive, which swept Iraqi government forces from swaths of the countrys north, is thought to have been partially enabled by an alliance with the Naqshbandi group - known in full as the Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order which emerged around 2007. The group is believed to be under the control of Douri, the most senior of Saddams commanders to evade capture after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. His whereabouts is unknown, though many think he is in Syria. They [the Naqshbandi group] have a direct relationship with al-Douri, the governor said. Its a Sufi group. Al-Douri is himself a Sufi. Nujaifi said the only way out of Iraqs current violent turmoil was a political solution involving talks not with Isis but with the six or seven other Sunni groups fighting in different parts of the country. All are opposed to Iraqs Shia-led government, and its prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki. The solution must be without Maliki. Nobody trusts him, the governor said. Residents in Mosul, meanwhile, say Iraqi aircraft are regularly bombarding the city, and on Tuesday night hit its main power plant, next to Mosul University. Water supplies have already been cut. Electricity – previously available for a couple of hours a day – is now down to just a few minutes, forcing people to rely on generators. Prices for basic foodstuffs and petrol have risen dramatically. The northern city of around two million is by far the biggest to have fallen into the hands of Isis. When jihadi fighters swept into Mosul on 10 June, many initially welcomed their arrival: the city is predominantly Sunni, and the Shi-dominated Baghdad government and its local police force in Mosul were deeply unpopular. Locals described how Isis militants attempted to win over locals, using army cranes to remove Mosuls numerous checkpoints, for example. One shopkeeper said that before the militants arrival it had taken one hour to cross the city; now it took just 15 minutes. Gradually, however, Isis began imposing its own Salafist rules – pulling down municipal statues of Mosul singer Mala Osman and poet Abu Tamam. Fighters asked shops not to stock western-style womens clothes. They told female public-sector employees – doctors, teachers, nurses – to stay at home. According to residents, Isis promised to give male street cleaners and other workers 30% of their salaries to keep essential services going – but failed to pay anything. One resident said most Isis fighters had vanished late last week. They were now largely invisible, with only a few low-key checkpoints inside the city
Posted on: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 06:29:10 +0000
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