Last update - 00:00 14/03/2007
Iraqi troops raid Palestinian compound in Baghdad, arrest 15
By The Associated Press
Iraqi security forces raided a Palestinian compound in Baghdad on Wednesday after an attack on a police patrol, detaining at least 15 people after a gunbattle that left one Palestinian dead, officials said.
Palestinian charge d'affaires Dalil al-Qusous said as many as 80 Palestinian refugees had been detained and demanded their release. He also claimed the Iraqi troops fired randomly during the raid, causing fear and awe.
An Iraqi Interior Ministry official said the raid was targeting the source of gunfire after a shooting attack against a police patrol was staged from the heavily barricaded compound. He said only 15 Palestinians had been detained.
Al-Qusous accused the Iraqi government of supporting violence against the mostly Sunni Palestinians, who were a favored group of people here during Saddam Hussein's rule.
"We used to say the attacks occurred by militias or gangs; but now the state is attacking," he said.
He said Interior Ministry forces first broke into the compound in eastern Baghdad on Tuesday, seizing two Palestinians and shooting randomly. Then they returned for about five hours on Wednesday, detaining dozens and sparking a gunbattle that killed one Palestinian, the diplomat said.
"I appeal for the immediate release of the innocent Palestinian detainees," al-Qusous said.
In late January, some 30 Palestinians were temporarily detained in Baghdad in late January, prompting the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva to express concern about the precarious situation of refugees in the violence-ridden capital.
The group said around 15,000 Palestinians are living in Baghdad as refugees, but are facing constant threats and are unable to move freely.
Palestinians, many of whom fled to Iraq from the newly created Israel in 1948, enjoyed preferential treatment under Saddam's regime.
He lavished large cash payments on the families of Palestinian suicide bombers in the 1990s, when Iraq faced crippling economic sanctions and many Iraqis were jobless.
That caused Iraqis to feel strong resentment toward Palestinians and other Arabs who came to work in Iraq.