BAGHDAD,
May 24 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - As the U.S. forces in
Iraq panic at the appearance of Iraqi snipers, they announced measures
to prevent civilians and groups from keeping assault rifles and heavy
weapons in the war-torn country.
“A
sniper killed five American soldiers within last few days, each with one
bullet in the neck or the right eye, creating panic among the occupation
forces here,” eyewitnesses told IslamOnline.net Friday, May 23.
“Another
sniper, thought to be a former Republican Guard officer has destroyed
four American armored vehicles,” said another eyewitnesses from the
western governorate if Dayala.
“This
sniper drives through the streets in his pickup car and with a
rocket-propelled grenade (RPJs) to hunt down tanks and other armored
vehicles,” of the occupation forces, he told IOL.
Iraqis
skeptically received the resolution, contending the U.S. forces did so
little to improve their living conditions and halt the general state of
anarchy more than 40 days after the end of the March 20 invasion.
The
resolution transfers legal control over Iraq's oil immediately from the
United Nations to the United States and Britain.
Banned
In
the meanwhile, the American occupation forces said it will allow Kurdish
fighters to keep their assault rifles and heavy weapons, but require
Shiite Muslim and other militias to surrender theirs, according to a
draft directive.
The
directive, The New York Time, has engendered intense
criticism by Shiite leaders involved in negotiations with American and
British officials.
"Maybe
we didn't fight with the coalition, but we didn't fight against
them," said Adel Abdul Mahdi, an official of the largest Shiite
group, which is headed by Ayatollah Muhammad Bakr al-Hakim.
"We
want conditions where all militias are dissolved and we will not accept
that other militias will be allowed to stay there with their weapons
while we will not be there with ours," Mahdi added.
The
directive is feared to trigger ethnic clashes in the already-intense
situation in the country, which has no central government since the fall
of the Saddam regime on April 10.
Under
the directive there "will be no militias inside of Iraq," but
the Kurdish forces, known as Peshmerga, "are a different
story," General David D. McKiernan, commander of the U.S. land
forces in Iraq, told a press conference.
"The
peshmergas fought with coalition forces and we look to leave them with
some of their forces north of the green line," he said, referring
to the line that once divided the Kurds into two self-governing enclaves
in the north from the parts of Iraq under the control of Saddam Hussein.
The
directive would allow ordinary Iraqis to retain some arms, including
pistols, rifles and shotguns, but would ban AK-47 automatic assault
rifles, machine guns, mortars, grenades and heavier weapons such as
artillery, antitank weapons and armored vehicles, reported the Times.
The directive will also prohibit public arms sale in the country.
The
new directive will be signed by Bremer and General McKiernan, according
to the draft, which is dated May 18 and has been the basis for this
week's private negotiations with Iraqi opposition figures.
Under
the draft policy, which is expected to be issued before June 1,
"small arms may be possessed in homes." Such arms include
rifles, shotguns, and pistols, but no automatic weapons. In order to
carry such weapons outside homes, individuals or groups must have a
"weapons authorization card."
