Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/754143
ByBrianRohan The Associated Press TAL AFAR AIRPORT, IRAQ A sandstorm is brewing west of the Iraqi city of Mosul, kicked up across a barren landscape by thousands of men and machines headed to war. Trucks, armored trans- ports and even tanks carry fighters through a cloud of fine dust past a series of base camps and heavy weapons depots dotting the route to the front line against the so-called Is- lamic State. These are the Shiite mi- litias, and their goal is Tal Afar, on the main road to the Syrian city of Raqqa, the capital of IS' self-de- clared caliphate. Currently a sideshow compared with the street- to-street fighting in Mosul, some 44 miles to the east, the battle for Tal Afar is cer- tain to boost Shiite power. And its significance could be just as great — if not greater — for Iraq and the future of the region than the main battle for Mosul itself. Officially, the Iraqi gov- ernment and top militia leadership say that only Iraqi army units will enter Tal Afar, once dominated by Shiites but now primarily Sunni Turkmen, a minority in the country with cultural and historic links to nearby Turkey to the north. But some of the militias' most powerful units, as well as field commanders and troops — all backed by a newly empowered Iran — tell a different story. Jaafar al-Husseini, spokesman for Iraq's Hez- bollah Brigades, said it is the militias backed by Shi- ite-heavy army units and Iranian weapons that will lead the charge into Tal Afar to drive out IS extrem- ists. "The Iranians are with us," he said, adding that Tehran was supporting the militias directly, including strategy from Revolution- ary Guards commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who is in charge of a crescent of Shiite power stretching from Tehran to Beirut. "Our mission and that of the (Iraqi Shiite) Badr Brigades is to encircle Tal Afar from the east. Then we will storm it," he said, add- ing that Soleimani visited a nearby staging ground three days ago. Iraq's Shiite militias mo- bilized against IS in 2014. Since then, they have shown a growing determination to be a major force shaping the country. The prospect worries Iraq's Sunni minority but also some officials in the military and the Shiite-led government, who fear the militias, bolstered by pres- tige from battles with IS, could one day dominate the country like the Revolution- ary Guard does in Iran and the guerrilla group Hezbol- lah does in Lebanon. The larger militias, like Asaib Ahl al-Haq, the He- zbollah Brigades, Badr and the Peace Brigades, emerged after the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hus- sein, and are linked to po- litical parties. But their ranks surged after IS over- ran nearly a third of Iraq in 2014, and Grand Aya- tollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's top Shiite cleric, called on able-bodied males to fight the militant group's Sunni extremists. Thousands rallied to the militias late last month, bringing their strength to at least 15,000 men in the push toward Tal Afar to cut off IS supply lines west of Mosul. Their umbrella group, Hashd al-Shaabi, has agreed not to enter Mosul itself, but the same cannot be said of all groups when it comes to Tal Afar. On the winding route through the desert, a relent- less flow of pickup trucks and Humvees carried men bristling with weapons. The Iraqi flag was a rare sight; instead, most carried ban- ners from various Shiite mi- litias, with their distinctive font and iconography sim- ilar to that of Iran's Revo- lutionary Guard and Leba- non's Hezbollah. The deployment has not gone unnoticed in the re- gion. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that the militias could prompt a Turkish response if they "terrorize" the area's Iraqi-Turkmen. Ankara has deployed tanks and other vehicles to Silopi, a Turk- ish town on Iraq's north- ern border. WAR ON TERRORISM Ir aq 's a sc en da nt S hi it e mi li ti as taking the fight to Tal Afar FELIPEDANA—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Popular Mobilization Units fighters talk on the radio as they watch Islamic State positions in the airport of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, Iraq, on Sunday. By Rahim Faiez and Amir Shah The Associated Press KABUL, AFGHANISTAN A suicide bomber struck a Shiite mosque in the Af- ghan capital on Monday, killing 32 people, the U.N. office said, the second large-scale attack target- ing minority Shiites in Ka- bul in just over a month. Hours later, the Islamic State affiliate in Afghani- stan claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S. monitoring service that tracks militant postings. Afghan police said the bomber, who was on foot, had walked into the Shiite mosque in western Kabul where he detonated his ex- plosives among a crowd of worshippers. The United Nations As- sistance Mission in Af- ghanistan said the explo- sion also wounded more than 50 people, many of them children. Earlier in the day, the Afghan au- thorities said at least 28 people were killed and 48 wounded. In its statement, IS said the group's martyr hit a gathering of close to 1,000 inside a "temple of Shiite polytheists" in Kabul and detonated his vest bear- ing 35 pounds of explo- sives, SITE said. IS claimed nearly 200 Shiites were killed and wounded. How- ever, militants often exag- gerate their claims. Sunni extremists such as the Taliban and IS mil- itants view Shiites as her- etics and apostates and frequently target Shiite mosques and public gath- erings. "This appalling attack on worshippers is an atroc- ity," the statement quoted Pernille Kardel, the Secre- tary-General's Deputy Spe- cial Representative for Af- ghanistan. "UNAMA ex- presses its revulsion at this latest effort by extremists to stoke sectarian violence in Afghanistan." Monday's bombing hit during a prayers cere- mony commemorating 40 days since the anniversary of the death of Imam Hus- sein, the slain grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. The ceremony is known as Arbaeen, meaning 'forty' in Arabic. Hussein is a re- vered Shiite martyr who was killed in 680 A.D. in the city of Karbala in pres- ent-day Iraq. In early October, mil- itants attacked another Shiite ceremony at a shrine in Kabul, commemorating the anniversary of Husse- in's actual death. That attack killed 17 people, mostly worshippers but also several policemen. A day later, a similar attack struck Shiites in the city of Mazer-e Sharif in northern Balkh province, killing at least 14 people. The IS affiliate in Af- ghanistan also claimed responsibility for one of those two attacks, the U.N. statement said. Faredoon Obiadi, head of the criminal investi- gation department for the Kabul police, said the attacker in Monday's bombing walked into the Baqir-ul Ulom mosque and mingled among the crowd on the first floor of the two-story building where he detonated his explosives. "Suddenly, a huge explo- sion happened, then ev- erything went dark," said Ewaz Ali, 50, who was in- side the mosque but suf- fered only minor wounds. Kardel from UNAMA added in her statement that "religious and ethnic tolerance are values the Af- ghan people hold strong." AFGHANISTAN Bo mb er t ar ge ts K ab ul Shiite mosque; 32 dead InPrintEveryTuesday-Thursday-Saturday Online:Publishes24/7 www.redbluffdailynews.com Threeadditionalonline locations at no extra cost! 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