Iraq hostage stand-off dismissed as exaggerated

BAGHDAD - Iraqi forces searched a town near Baghdad yesterday for evidence of dozens of Shi'ites said to have been kidnapped by Sunni militants, amid suggestions the claim was exaggerated for political ends.

Five brigades of Iraqi troops from the Interior Ministry's special commando unit spread out through Madaen, 40km southeast of Baghdad, but after hours of searching found no evidence of any hostages or gunmen.

"We found no hostages and we have arrested no terrorists," Colonel Abu al-Jau, deputy commander of one of the brigades, told Reuters by phone from Madaen, adding not a single bullet had been fired.

"The people were very afraid but we have urged them to keep calm. They have been very cooperative," he said.

Shi'ite officials in Baghdad said on Saturday that up to 150 Shi'ites were being held hostage by Sunni gunmen in the town and were being threatened with death unless Shi'ites left.

Police cautioned from the start that perhaps only as few as three people were being held and said the situation was the result of weeks of tit-for-tat kidnapping between rival tribes.

The confusion has underlined just how tense Iraq's authorities have grown as a political vacuum, formed since the January 30 election, deepens, with no government in sight.

Rival political factions are increasingly at odds over the distribution of ministries, with the main Shi'ite political party determined to secure the Interior Ministry and adamant that the Defence Ministry should not be controlled by Sunnis.

Some officials said the situation in Madaen was exaggerated for political gain, with groups trying to show via a hostage crisis that the interim government was incompetent, allowing Sunni militants to harass Shi'ites without recourse.

"The lack of a government is making everyone try to show that they know something and that they are influential," said Sabah Kadhim, an adviser to the interior minister.

"Madaen was just blown out of proportion. It's a mixed community with problems that are tribal matters. But you've got outside forces, some of them on the political side, who were exploiting the situation," he said.

Kidnapping has been common in towns such as Madaen, which has a mixed Sunni and Shi'ite population but where tribal loyalties often supersede religious affiliations. Tribes frequently respond to kidnappings with abductions of their own.

Kadhim said it was possible some people were being held hostage in the town - although he said it was extremely unlikely that 150 were ever held - and it was probable that criminal and insurgent gangs operated in the area.

Madaen, the nearby town of Salman Pak and other settlements in the area have been hotbeds of militancy over the past two years, with frequent attacks on US and Iraqi forces.

However, Kadhim said the bigger issue was politics.

Since the January 30 election, which brought the Shi'ite majority to power after decades of oppression under Saddam Hussein, tensions have soared between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims.

Amid those tensions, and conscious of the fact that minority Sunnis need to be brought into government if Iraq is to move beyond its past, Shi'ite Prime Minister-designate Ibrahim al-Jaafari is trying to form a government.

The main Shi'ite party in his coalition wants to ensure that the Interior Ministry, key to Iraq's security, goes to a Shi'ite minister and has indicated that it wants to put its own militia, formed in exile in Iran, in charge of security.

Many Sunni leaders fear that if the Shi'ites seal the ministry there will be purges against former Baathists who are now heading the US-backed security forces and leading the fight against the two-year-old insurgency.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned against such reprisals during a visit to Baghdad last week, saying that any unnecessary shake-up of ministries could be counterproductive.

Politicians say the delay in forming a government - it has now been more than 11 weeks since the election - is a direct result of the intense negotiations that are going on.

However, the longer the delay, the greater the risk that the country's newly-elected leaders will appear weak and indecisive, Iraqi officials warn. They also fear insurgents will begin to exploit the power vacuum by stepping up attacks.

Over the past 10 days there has been a surge in militant activity, with a series of deadly car bomb blasts in Baghdad and elsewhere in the country, leading to concerns that the insurgency is regrouping after evidence that is was dying down.

- REUTERS