Map by Zeyad Kasim

"The clashes broke out again in the streets of al-Amal al-Shaabi, al-Munazhama and al-Markaz in al-Aamiriya area, western Baghdad, on Saturday morning, while U.S. forces allowed Iraqi students on foot to pass for their examinations," an eyewitness told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

Another witness told VOI "light and medium arms were used in the clashes," adding "gunmen, numbering more than 50, were spreading in the streets."

"U.S. forces had removed some of the bodies in the streets of the city on Friday night," the witness said.

No comments were made by the Iraqi police on the clashes.

Al-Aamiriya had witnessed wide-scale confrontations on Wednesday and Thursday in which PKC machine-guns and mortar shells were used between the two sides of gunmen.

An eyewitness told VOI by telephone on Thursday that markets and stores closed down and streets were totally empty of vehicles.

"Forces of the so-called Islamic State in Iraq gathered near al-Amal al-Shaabi street while forces of the Islamic Army organization assembled near the Houses of al-Mukhabarat in al-Amiriya," noted the witness.

The area is the stronghold of the Islamic State in Iraq, an offshoot of al-Qaeda and other armed groups that wielded power over this spot vacant of any presence of government troops and came under the control of U.S. forces for several days now.

The following are different, and somewhat conflicting, accounts of the clashes Wednesday and Thursday:

Haqq Agency Report:

A report by the Haqq Agency, a fundamentalist Islamic website, dated the 1st of June, explains that the clashes in Amiriya were between two insurgent groups, and that they were a result of a misunderstanding or a possible “trap” laid by “the enemies of God.” The report goes on to say that members of a certain “Jihadi faction” discovered graffiti on a wall in Amiriya directed against them three days ago, so they immediately accused another faction of responsibility. The back-and-forth accusations then resulted in armed clashes in the district. The report also revealed that both sides suffered losses and injuries, and that some fighters were taken as hostages. Amiriya residents denied news reports that they had participated in the clashes or that they had requested assistance from U.S. or Iraqi troops, according to the website.

The Al-Badeel Al-Iraqi websites reports that the graffiti said, “Down with Al-Qaeda. Longlive the honorable resistance.”

Voices of Iraq Report:

The VOI News Agency reported through eyewitness accounts in Amiriya that the clashes Wednesday and Thursday, which involved street battles with PKC machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, were between an Al-Qaeda affiliated group on one hand, and Islamic Army and 1920 Revolution Brigade gunmen on the other.

Residents cowered inside their homes as the clashes spread to the main streets of Amal Al-Sha’bi, Al-Munadhamma and Al-Markaz in the district on Thursday. The Amiriya High School was bombed with mortar shells after Al-Qaeda gunmen tried to take refuge there, residents said, while others claimed masked gunmen entered the district during the clashes, identified as possible reinforcements for Al-Qaeda. The Miluki mosque (The Tikriti mosque in another account), where Islamic Army gunmen were fortified, was also attacked with mortar fire. Eyewitnesses said calls were made from local mosques through loudspeakers demanding a truce between the two groups, but battles raged on until U.S. and Iraqi troops imposed a curfew early Friday.

No official casualty count was given but a local council member told the Associated Press that at least 31 people, including six Al-Qaeda militants, were killed and 45 other fighters detained. Residents said bodies were scattered on the street near the local police station.

The Associated Press had reported Friday that residents took part in the clashes, and that U.S. and Iraqi forces also joined, but locals denied the reports, adding that U.S. helicopters circled the area and main streets leading to Amiriya were closed without any direct intervention.

The Islamic Army in Iraq and the 1920 Revolution Brigades had both issued Internet statements accusing the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Qaeda of killing its leaders west and south of Baghdad weeks ago. The two sides had previously clashed in Amiriyat Al-Fallujah, the Zaidoun area of Abu Ghraib and in Arab Jubour, south of Dora over the last few weeks.

Islamic Army in Iraq’s Account:

Ibrahim Al-Shammari, a spokesman for the Islamic Army in Iraq, told Al-Jazeera TV on Friday that Al-Qaeda affiliated gunmen abducted three members of the Islamic Army insurgent group in Amiriya Wednesday afternoon and opened fire against another local group led by Abu Al-Abd. On Thursday morning they stormed into the Miluki mosque and killed Zaid Abu Tiba, an Islamic Army commander. Al-Shammari said the gunmen dragged Abu Tiba’s corpse on the street for 8 hours, prompting the subsequent clashes with the Islamic Army.

Statement from Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi:

A statement purported to be from the office of Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State in Iraq, posted Friday on a web forum commonly used by different Iraqi insurgent groups, said Al-Baghdadi had issued orders to soldiers of the Islamic State in Amiriya to withdraw to their former positions and to avoid responding to provocations. Al-Baghdadi also expressed his regret regarding the clashes between the Mujahideen and ordered an investigation of the incident. The veracity of the statement could not be confirmed by an independent source.

Statement from the 1920 Revolution Brigades:

The 1920 Revolution Brigades issued an Internet statement late Wednesday acknowledging the clashes in Amiriya, which it described as “a fight between brothers,” but denying that it is involved in any conflict with Al-Qaeda. “We in the 1920 Revolution Brigade have experienced the bitterness of internal conflict; therefore we call on the two groups to resort to logic and reason and to exercise restraint in solving any problems,” the statement said. “This fight should not come at such difficult times, and we should all instead aim our rifles against the occupiers, who are in their death throes, and the sectarian militias, which are killing and deporting our people in Baghdad, especially in Bayaa’ and Amil. These developments serve no one except the occupier and his followers.”

Anbar Salvation Council’s Account:

Sheikh Hamid Al-Hayis, head of the Anbar Salvation Council, a coalition of Sunni tribes west of Iraq formed to fight Al-Qaeda, told Al-Arabiya TV and AFP that Sunni tribal fighters were sent to Amiriya to join nationalist insurgents in their fight against Al-Qaeda.

"We dispatched around 50 of our secret police from Anbar to Amiriyah, and started to hit Al-Qaeda there. We killed a lot of them," Al-Hayis said in a telephone inteview. "A similar operation will be launched in Al-Ghazaliyah against Al-Qaeda today. We have sufficient information on places they are in, and we will punish them," he said, adding that his forces were fighting in plain clothes.

The Islamic State of Iraq had accused the Anbar Salvation Council of a role in initiating the clashes, while several posters on one of the main web forums used by insurgent groups called on their members in Amiriya to identify the possible infiltrators and hunt them down to prevent further clashes.