The Sadrist Nahrain Net accused U.S. troops of "giving the green light" to "Takfiri and Ba'athist terrorist groups" to take control of several districts in the Karkh sector of Baghdad. The website reported through eyewitness accounts that Sunni gunmen had openly set up checkpoints on the streets of the Shurta Al-Khamsa, Muwasalat, Rayy and Suwaib districts of southern Baghdad Sunday evening while shouting anti-American and anti-Shia slogans. Shi'ite residents of the abovementioned mixed areas said that there was no sign of U.S. or Iraqi Army presence, which prompted some people to pick up arms and clash with the gunmen. Some accused the 36th Brigade of the Iraqi Army of siding with the insurgents, referring to it as "the filthy brigade." The militants abducted three men from the Muwasalat district and two others in Shurta.

Nahrain Net also quotes unnamed media sources in the Jordanian capital that said British officials have recommended to Gulf countries, such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, to build ties and relations with tribal chiefs in southern and central Iraq. The sources said the British officials have provided these countries with lists of Arab tribal chiefs who would possibly cooperate and cut back the support of their tribes for Shi'ite political parties in the south of Iraq. The Jordanian intelligence agency has also received similar lists, according to the sources.

An unnamed member of Iraqi parliament, from the Shi'ite UIA bloc, told Al-Melaf that some governmental officials and members of parliament have reservations about the repeated diplomatic tours made by Vice President Tariq Al-Hashimi. The source said that some officials have complained to Speaker of Parliament Mahmoud Al-Mashadani about these visits that Hashimi has not discussed with the Presidency Council or parliament. Mashadani has reportedly promised to bring up this matter with Hashimi once he returns from his visit to Teheran.

The Kurdish regional government is preventing Assyrian businesses from using Assyrian names or putting up signs using the Assyrian language on the front of their stores, according to the Assyrian International News Agency. The owners of these businesses were informed that they could only use Kurdish or English. An Assyrian businessman described this new policy as similar to those under Saddam's regime, when Assyrians were forced to use Arabic instead of Assyrian names. Assyrians in Iraq and surrounding countries are largely Christians, both Catholic and Orthodox, and a large portion of them live within the borders of the Kurdish region.

Middle East Online reports that Mandaean Iraqis (also known as Sabaeans and Baptists), one of the oldest religious groups of Iraq, are increasingly seeking refuge in the Kurdish region. The community, which had around 65,000 members in the 1980s, is down to 22,000, according to recent estimates by non-governmental organizations. About half of those live in Baghdad, where their main religious temple is located at the Qadissiya district on the bank of the Tigris. The rest inhabit the former marshes area in southern Iraq and the urban centers of Basrah, Amara and Nasiriya. So far, 44 families have settled in Erbil and 12 in Suleimaniya, and Sa'di Thijeel, the former president of the Mandaean Affairs Council said that the majority of Mandaeans have migrated to Syria, Jordan and Europe. Abdul Sattar Hilu, the spiritual leader of the Mandaeans, had met with Kurdish President Masoud Barazani in Baghdad recently to discuss the relocation of more Mandaean families to Kurdistan.

WNA News reports that Iraqi troops with the assistance of local tribes in Anbar have killed Alaa' Dahham Hantush and Mohammed Al-Layli, two wanted Al-Qaeda leaders in the Governorate.

SCIRI's Buratha News Agency reports that Iraqi security forces have bombed the Sunni rural suburbs of Arab Jubour and Al-Bu Aitha south of Baghdad with heavy artillery fire. The Agency's correspondent in the Karrada district reported hearing a loud explosion every ten seconds. The Haqq Agency also reported that the Sunni-majority Adil district was targeted with five mortar rounds.

The Haqq Agency reports that the phenomenon of targeting governmental employees has resurfaced in different parts of Baghdad. In the Zayouna district, east of Baghdad, three employees of the Agriculture Ministry were targeted with firearms, killing one and wounding two, while eyewitnesses said that unknown gunmen abducted three employees of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in the Mansour district, west of Baghdad. Haqq also reports that 20 unidentified corpses with signs of torture and gunshots to the head were discovered in different parts of Baghdad, and 10 others were found in Baquba, north of the capital.

The fundamentalist Islam Memo website reports fierce clashes between militants and joint U.S.-Iraqi troops in the Sunni-majority district of Adhamiya, north of Baghdad Tuesday morning, according to residents. U.S. reinforcements are pouring into the district after a Hummer vehicle was attacked in a roadside bombing, while helicopters are circling the area.

www.iraqslogger.com