Defence Groups to Protect from Marauders Set up in Some Districts of Baghdad

On Tuesday the Karrada Mesbah district of Baghdad experienced gunfire. According to a RIA Novosti correspondent, the fire was commenced by self-defence groups set up by the district citizens to protect themselves from marauders.

As it has been reported previously, on Monday the occupation authorities introduced a curfew from 7 p.m. till 6 a.m. in the Iraqi capital /from the last evening prayer till the first morning one/. Accordingly, marauders set to work after dawn.

The houses, located on the quay of the Tigris river and owned by members of the former government, such as Vice Presidents, Izzat Ibrahim and Taha Yassin Ramadan, Vice Premier, Tariq Aziz, Saddam Hussein's sons, Udei and Kusai, and daughter, Hali, were plundered on the first day of the chaos caused by the US troops' invasion into Baghdad. Marauders' next objective is rich people's houses.

The streets of the districts are blocked by stones, big concrete blocks and metal pipes and guarded by the local self-defence groups. The situation in Baghdad remains unstable compared with the one in the provinces controlled by the heads of local tribes.