Subscribe 

Assassination and bombings roil Basra

After gunmen killed the general secretary of Hizbollah Iraq's Basra branch, and amidst a spate of IED bombings, paramilitary groups threatened to take security matters into their own hands.
Iraqi security forces take their positions during a training exercise in Basra on Nov. 18, 2012. (ATEF HASSAN/Reuters)

BASRA - Basra leaders are scrambling to contain an outbreak of violence that has targeted political figures and provoked outrage among Shia paramilitary groups.

The spate of violence began with the assassination, on Feb. 8, of Bassam al-Mosawi, the general secretary of the paramilitary group Hizbollah Iraq's Basra branch. Over the following week, six improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have detonated around the city, one outside the home of an official from the Dawa political party.

This content is for registered users. Please login to continue.
If you are not a registered user, you may purchase a subscription.