Reuters Article: Rival insurgent groups clash in Baghdad-residents

BAGHDAD, May 31 (Reuters) - Sunni Muslim Iraqi insurgents fought fierce battles on Thursday with al Qaeda-led militants for control of a neighbourhood in Baghdad that has effectively been outside government control for months.

Residents said the fighting in the southwestern district of Amiriya was between the Islamic Army in Iraq, one of the largest insurgent groups fighting U.S. and Iraqi forces, and the Qaeda-led Islamic State in Iraq.

It was not clear how many people had been killed in several days of fighting. Residents gave varying death tolls while the police had no comment. Iraqi security forces rarely venture into the area.

Last month, the Islamic Army urged al Qaeda, which is driven by foreign fighters, to review its policies of indiscriminate killings that have alienated home-grown insurgent groups.

The Islamic Army is mainly made up of former army officers and supporters of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.

An elderly man, who was too afraid to give his name, said the clashes had prompted many people to flee the area on foot and shop owners to close their stores.

Al Qaeda militants have alienated many Sunni Arabs in Iraq in recent months with their adherence to a hardline form of Islam and their indiscriminate use of car bombs that have killed thousands.

Amiriya residents said violence exploded after Islamic Army members entered the Qaeda-controlled Mulouki mosque and began a heated argument with al Qaeda militants over recent killings.

Soon after they stormed out of the mosque, the minaret's loudspeakers blared out that Abu Teeba, believed to have been al Qaeda's number two in the area, had been assassinated, prompting dozens of Qaeda gunmen to capture and kill at least six Islamic Army insurgents, according to residents.

Residents said al Qaeda had then gone into an Islamic Army stronghold in the disrict and set up base in empty homes.

In western Anbar province, al Qaeda is waging a campaign of shootings and bombings against tribal leaders who have formed an alliance against them.

Insurgent infighting, however, is not common in Baghdad where Shi'ite and Sunni militants are locked in tit-for-tat killings.

The Islamic Army and another insurgent group announced earlier this month they had formed the Jihad and Reform Front.

The front appears to have been established as a rival to the Islamic State in Iraq, which was set up last year by al Qaeda in Iraq and other minor Sunni Arab militant groups.