Militants carve up Baghdad into sectarian war zone

BAGHDAD, Nov 15 (Reuters) Baghdad, a city known for centuries as the ''City of Peace'', is rapidly disintegrating into ruthless battle-zones carved out by sectarian militants vying for control of Iraq's capital.

Although government forces maintain a presence in all areas, death squads from Sunni and Shi'ite sects are widely believed to be carrying out assassinations and ''executions'' of people in rival communities, forcing thousands of others from their homes.

The city of seven million rarely has a break from the carnage of daily bombings. Dozens of bodies are recovered from its streets, many tortured and bound before being shot.

Yesterday, dozens of gunmen dragged as many as 100 men out of an office run by the Higher Education Ministry. The minister said they were taken to a Shi'ite area where a powerful militia, accused by Sunnis of targeting them, is based.

Residents go out of their way to stay in neighbourhoods controlled by their own sect. A security source said today several militias had worked out a deal to carve up control of parts of the city in the wake of yesterday's kidnap.

Hussein, a Shi'ite from the Hurriya district, said he avoids travelling through the adjacent Adel district.

''A lot of Sunnis were killed here in Hurriya,'' he said. ''Now I take a very long route to work to avoid travelling through their territory because the terrorists are waiting for us.'' Most of Baghdad's government buildings, hotels, embassies, media organisations, political parties and mosques are surrounded by large concrete barriers, barbed wire and armed guards to deter bomb attacks.

Residents must also endure regular fuel, water and electricity shortages which are especially unbearable in the simmering summer heat.

But life, with restrictions, continues. Iraqis can shop relatively normally, dine at restaurants and go about their business, albeit under constant risk.

NO-GO ZONES Sunni areas such as Adhamiya, Amiriya, Ghazaliya and Doura have become all but out of bounds for Shi'ites who fear fake security checkpoints where gunmen may ask for identification that reveals their identity.

Sunnis also refrain, for similar reasons, from entering areas such as the densely-populated Sadr City slum in north- eastern Baghdad and the areas of Ur, Hurriya and Shula.

In the once vibrant commercial area of Mansour, the vast majority of shops have been shut for weeks. Recent bombings in the area have left dozens of windows shattered.

Sectarian tensions have made fault-lines out of physical features, such as a small bridge separating mainly Sunni Ghazaliya from the Shi'ite Shula area.

Floating bodies are sometimes caught by fisherman in the murky waters of the sewage-polluted river Tigris, the banks of which used to be lined with crowded fish restaurants.

Meysoun al-Zubaidi, a Shi'ite living in Abu Dshir, says mortar rounds are a daily occurrence and she blamed Sunnis in nearby districts.

''We are bombarded by the terrorists in the Mahdiya area,'' she said. ''There are mortars every evening, so much so that we can time our watch by them.'' REUTERS SY VV2142