\n\t\t\tOne of them was Hazim al-Hilfi, a commander of the Saraya al-Salam \nmilitant group, who was killed on Thursday when the vehicle carrying him\n was targeted by unidentified gunmen on the Muhammad al-Qasim road, west\n of Basra province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\t\t\tHe suffered fatal injuries and died on the spot, local security \nsources said. They quoted a Sadr movement’s media official in Basra, \nSaad al-Maliki, as saying that Halfi was one of the leaders of the Peace\n Corps, Presstv Reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\t\t\tHis assassination came less than 24 hours after Abu-Muqada \nal-Azirjawi, another top commander of the Saraya group, was seriously \nwounded on Tuesday night after unknown assailants riding motorcycles \nopened fire on him near his house in Abou Roummaneh district of Maysan \ngovernorate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\t\t\tHe later died of his injuries in hospital, Iraqi media reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\t\t\tThere are speculations that the assassinations are carried out by \nforeign intelligence services with the aim of pinning the blame on rival\n Iraqi groups, and reignite a civil war in the volatile country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\t\t\tLast October, Maysan Governorate witnessed the killing of \nWissam al-Alyawi, a prominent leader in the Asa\u2019ib Ahl al-Haq group, \nfollowing an armed attack on its headquarters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\t\t\t\u2018US plotting to pit Sadr Movement against Asa\u2019ib Ahl al-Haq\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\t\t\tAsa\u2019ib leader Qais Khazali has said the US had plotted to assassinate\n Muqtada al-Sadr and pin the blame on Asa\u2019ib Ahl al-Haq group in a bid \nto provoke a civil war in Iraq.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\t\t\t\u201cThe first American-Israeli project in Iraq, which they wanted to \nimplement, was to assassinate Muqtada al-Sadr and then accuse Asa\u2019ib of \nkilling him, causing a nationwide slaughter in the country,\u201d Khazali \nsaid in an interview with al-Ahad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\t\t\t\u201cSadr and Iran received the intelligence, and the issue was sorted \nout. Thank God the plot was failed,\u201d he noted, saying the source of the \nintelligence was top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, who was \nassassinated in a US drone attack last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\t\t\tKhazali also pointed to the issue of “unknown snipers” who targeted \nIraqi protesters at the beginning of the protests in October, and said \nlaunching an investigation into the issue and identifying the \nperpetrators is among the most important demands of Iraqi people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\t\t\t“If this case is opened, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq has sufficient evidence and documents about those behind this issue,” he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\t\t\tSince early October, Iraq has been roiled by mass protests over poor \nliving conditions and corruption, which forced ex-premier Adel \nAbdul-Mahdi to resign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\t\t\tThe demonstrations have often turned violent and over 600 people, \nincluding police forces, have been killed and 17,000 injured, according \nto an Iraqi human rights group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\t\t\tIraq\u2019s President Barham Salih last week tasked Mohammed Allawi with \nforming a government within a month, a decision rejected by some \nprotesters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\t\t\tThe appointment of Allawi as prime minister-designate was expected to\n end the protest rallies, but the demonstrations have continued across \nIraq against the new premier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\t\t\tThe holy city of Najaf, in particular, has in recent days been a \nscene of violent clashes, which some Iraqi politicians blame on the US \nand Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\t\t\tFatah Alliance lawmaker Abdul Amir Taiban says the Najaf violence is \nan American-Saudi plot to distract the Iraqi people’s attention from the\n expulsion of US troops from the Arab country, which has been demanded \nby the Iraqi Parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\t\t\t“Foreign parties are directing the events in central and southern Iraqi provinces behind the scenes,” he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\t\t\t“By torching, burning, spreading riot and chaos, the US is trying to \ndistract the Iraqi nation and deflect their attention from the issue of \nexpelling alien forces from their country,” he told Al-Maalomah<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two commanders of Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr\u2019s movement have been killed in separate attacks in the span of 24 hours in what appears to be a plot to create division among Iraqi groups. One of them was Hazim al-Hilfi, a commander of the Saraya al-Salam militant group, who was killed on Thursday when the vehicle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,1],"tags":[31,69,533],"yoast_head":"\n