Arrest of Sunni fighters sparks fear in Baghdad

By Waleed Ibrahim

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A wave of arrests of Sunni Arab guards in a Baghdad district has spooked other units who helped rid the capital of al Qaeda, and who fear the Shi'ite-led government is out to get them for their Sunni insurgent past.

In interviews on Thursday in several Baghdad districts, U.S.-backed Sunni Arab patrolmen who switched sides to fight al Qaeda in 2006 were dismayed at arrests of fighters loyal to Adil al-Mashhadani, head of a patrol unit in Fadhil, central Baghdad.

Mashhadani was seized on Saturday in a raid that sparked deadly clashes between his supporters and Iraqi security forces.

Major-General Mizher Shaher Nusaif, operations commander for eastern Baghdad, said 36 had been arrested so far, but 14 of those were likely to be quickly released.

Many of the fighters, who once numbered around 90,000 across Iraq, have long feared they would be arrested for past crimes after the government took control of their program from U.S. forces late last year. The U.S. military, though, says Mashhadani was wanted for a spate of recent crimes.

How the government handles the guards it once fought is a major test of reconciliation after years of sectarian bloodshed between Sunnis and Shi'ites. Deep mistrust remains.

With his AK-47 slung over his shoulder and a pistol strapped to his jeans, Wisam Faris, 24, kept a keen watch on the streets of west Baghdad's Ghazaliya district. He said he felt betrayed.

"We helped the American and Iraqi forces maintain security in Baghdad, and now they are arresting us. Of course we are afraid. Why are they doing this now?" he said bitterly.