AMARAH: A judge shot dead with 15 bullets from a Kalashnikov. A policeman gunned down. Local figures from rival political groups and influential armed factions killed.
The murders all happened in January and February in one Iraqi province, Maysan, which borders Iran and where drug trafficking, tribal disputes and political score-settling have combined in a toxic mix reflecting the country’s broader political divisions and struggle against corruption.
War-scarred Iraq is trying to recover from years of violence after the 2003 US-led invasion which toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. Normality often hangs by a thread.
But in Maysan, violence is a near-daily occurrence with police and judicial officials regular targets of assassination attempts.
“Drug trafficking and tribal conflicts are the two main causes of the deteriorating security situation in Maysan,” independent MP Osama Karim Al-Badr said in the provincial capital Amarah.
February has been particularly bloody.
First came the assassination of police officer Hossam Al-Aliawi.
Judge Ahmed Faisal, who specialized in drug cases, was next to die. He was headed home when assailants blocked his route and opened fire, a police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.
A month earlier, a prominent member from the movement of powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr was killed.
Sadr’s bloc emerged as the largest in parliament after October’s elections. Months of intense negotiations among political factions since then have raised tensions while failing to form a majority parliamentary coalition that would name a new prime minister to replace Mustafa Al-Kadhimi.
On the same day that Al-Kadhimi visited Maysan in an effort to address the violence another murder occurred. The victim was a member of Saraya Al-Salam, an armed faction affiliated with Sadr.
Al-Kadhimi ordered a reshuffle of top security officials and warned: “We have two choices in front of us: the State or chaos.”
Over the past years, Iraq has seen a surge in the sale and use of drugs, particularly in central and southern provinces that border Iran and which often serve as main routes for narcotics, particularly the stimulant crystal meth.
Iraq’s Interior Ministry says Maysan has one of the highest rates of trafficking and consumption of drugs, and the provincial Security chief Gen. Mohammed Jassem Al-Zubaidi conceded that Maysan has served as a “route for drug trafficking.”
His forces carry out daily raids, and “every day, we confiscate arms,” he told AFP. Security forces also arrested dozens of people within the span of days.
But according to activist and journalist Sabah Al-Silawi, efforts have been hampered by the dominance of tribal traditions, which run deeper in Maysan than elsewhere. Tribes often resort to their own code of conduct and traditions to resolve personal conflicts or even deadly fights, avoiding turning to the authorities.
