RAMADI // Fighting broke out when Iraqi police moved to dismantle a Sunni Muslim protest camp in the western Anbar province on Monday, killing at least 13 people, police and medical sources said.
The camp has been an irritant to the prime minister, Nouri Al Maliki's Shiite-led government since Sunni protesters set it up a year ago to demonstrate against what they see as marginalisation of their sect. Forty-four politicians announced their resignations following the raid and demanded "the withdrawal of the army" along with the release of a Sunni legislator arrested on Saturday.
Mr Maliki, who is seeking a third term in April elections, has repeatedly vowed to remove the camp and accused protesters of stirring strife and sheltering Al Qaeda-linked militants.
Police sources said the clashes broke out when gunmen opened fire on police special forces trying to enter Ramadi, a western city 115 kilometres west of the capital, Baghdad, where the protest camp is located.
Gunshots and blasts were heard in parts of the city. The gunmen destroyed four police vehicles and killed at least three policemen in the north of Ramadi, one source said.
The bodies of 10 other people killed in the clashes were brought into Ramadi's morgue, hospital and morgue.
In Falluja, gunmen attacked army patrols deployed along the main motorway leading to Ramadi.
The defence ministry spokesman, Lieutenant-General Mohammed Al Askari, said the decision to remove the camp came after tribal leaders and local government and defence ministry officials reached a deal.
Ali Al Moussawi, a spokesman for Mr Maliki, said that the protesters in Ramadi "still have the right to protest" but "not by erecting tents and blocking roads."
Some police sources and local officials in Ramadi said tents were still standing in the camp although police and army forces had surrounded the area.
The United Nations called for restraint.
"I am concerned about the current developments in Anbar and call on all to remain calm and to abide by the agreements reached in the course of the last two days," said the UN envoy to Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov.
Tensions have been rising over the past few weeks in Anbar, a province that makes up a third of Iraq's territory and is populated mainly by Sunnis living along the Euphrates River.
The army launched a major operation in Anbar to flush out Al Qaeda militants after an attack killed at least 18 soldiers including an army commander on December 21.
On Saturday, Iraqi troops detained a Sunni lawmaker, Ahmed Al Alwani, who had been prominent among the organisers of the protests. He was sought on terrorism charges for inciting violence against Shiites.
When arresting officers arrived on Saturday at Mr Al Alwani's home to arrest him, his entourage resisted and his brother and five of his guards were killed in a shoot-out with the officers. Two troops were also killed.
The incident prompted Sheikh Abdul Malik Al Saadi, an influential Sunni cleric who had previously called on protesters to remain peaceful, to urge Sunni protesters to prepare to "defend themselves."
Many Sunnis resent Shiite domination of Iraq's politics since the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003 and empowered the majority Shiites through the ballot box.
The invasion was followed by an insurgency that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war.
Violence has spiked again this year as Al Qaeda-linked militants target the government and anyone seen to be supporting it, raising fears of a return to the sectarian conflict of 2006-7 that killed tens of thousands.
Also Monday, a bomb went off at an outdoor market in the eastern Baghdad suburb of Hussainiyah, killing three people and wounding eight, a police officer said. Another bomb targeted a patrol of an anti-Al Qaida Sunni militia in the city's southeastern suburb of Nahrawan, killing one person and wounding three, another officer said.
Police also found the bodies of three men who were kidnapped from a house in a village outside the northern city of Mosul on Sunday.
Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to release the information.
Over 8,000 people have been killed this year, according to the UN.
* Reuters and the Associated Press
Clashes between police and Sunnis in Iraqi protest camp kill 13
Fighting breaks out as Iraqi police move to dismantle a Sunni Muslim protest camp in the western Anbar province, killing at least 13 people.
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