Gunmen seizes part of north Iraq town and nearby villages

Heavy smoke billows from Baghdad's historic Shorjah market Gunmen seized part of a north Iraq town and nearby villages Thursday, and bombs killed at least two people at a historic Baghdad market and set it ablaze, officials said. The militant takeover in and around Sulaiman Bek comes as gunmen control all of one major city and part of another in a stand-off that has lasted for weeks.
It illustrates the scope of the security problems the country faces, the reach of militant groups and the inability of the armed forces to bring them under control.
Sulaiman Bek has been targeted in the past by Sunni militants, who last year executed 14 Shiite truck drivers on a nearby highway and seized territory temporarily.
The latest flare-up began when militants armed with light and medium weapons attacked army positions and overran the town centre early on Thursday, local official Talib al-Bayati said.
Some called over mosque loudspeakers for residents to leave, Bayati said, adding that the army had surrounded the area and helicopters were patrolling overhead.
Another local official, Shallal Abdul Baban, said militants were in control of western Sulaiman Bek and three nearby villages.
He reported sporadic clashes in the area, and said that two policemen had been wounded.
- Historic market set ablaze -
In Baghdad, two bomb blasts in the historic Shorjah market, which dates to the Abbassid era over 700 years ago, killed at least two people and wounded at least 11, officials said.
An AFP journalist said one bomb exploded in the perfume market and the second hit an area where clothes are sold.
The explosions sparked fires, the largest of which raged through the perfume market, sending a pillar of black smoke skywards.
Thursday's Sulaiman Bek unrest followed a series of attacks in the area, including one last July in which some 150 militants hit the town with mortar rounds, rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons fire.
The assault drew security forces away from the highway, where several dozen militants then set up a checkpoint and executed 14 Shiite Muslim truck drivers.
Sulaiman Bek was also briefly seized by militants in late April, but the assailants later withdrew under a deal worked out by tribal leaders and government officials, allowing security forces to move back in.
The authorities face a far more serious problem in Anbar province west of Baghdad, where jihadist militants and tribal fighters opposed to the authorities have held all of the city of Fallujah and parts of provincial capital Ramadi for weeks.
On Thursday, witnesses said gunmen attacked an army convoy north of Fallujah, sparking clashes, and security forces shelled two areas in the north of the city.
Violence in Iraq has reached a level not seen since 2008, when it was just emerging from a period of brutal sectarian killings.
Foreign leaders have urged the Shiite-led government to do more to reach out to the disaffected Sunni Arab minority.
But Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has taken a hard line ahead of a general election scheduled for April.
Source: AFP