Fatal Iraq-Egypt Clash in Baghdad Confirmed

Egyptian authorities confirmed Sunday that at least one man was killed and 70 others injured when a soccer victory celebration erupted into a violent clash between Egyptian workers and Iraqis.

The melee in the narrow boulevards and cramped alleyways of Baghdad’s Little Cairo neighborhood on Friday night followed months of increasing tension among Egyptian laborers here, who have been flooding back to Egypt at the rate of nearly 3,000 a day.

The exodus has also strained relations between Iraq and Egypt, which has sought repayment of an estimated $300 million in delayed wages and other payments from Iraq and an explanation for the more than 100 Egyptian bodies that have been flown back from Iraq since Oct. 1.

In an apparent attempt to defuse the crisis, Iraq announced over the weekend that it would pay the delayed remittances as soon as possible and compensate the families of Egyptian workers killed in Iraq.

Western diplomatic sources here said the actual death toll from the soccer clash may have been as high as nine.

Witnesses and diplomatic sources said the incident began when about 5,000 Egyptians flooded the streets of Baghdad’s Muraba’a neighborhood to celebrate Egypt’s victory over Algeria in a hotly contested World Cup match. When a car ran over seven of the celebrants, the Egyptians began rioting, and police were called in.

Tensions have been escalating in Egyptian neighborhoods here since Iraqi troops first began streaming home from the eight-year war with Iran and sought to reclaim the jobs that had been filled by foreign labor.