In the second raid on an Iraqi press building in less than 72 hours, US forces stormed the offices of the newspaper al-Da`wa today, located in the Wazariyah area of Baghdad.

Al-Da’wa is associated with the Islamic Da`wa Party, the Shi`a party whose deputy leader is the Iraqi PM Nuri Maliki.

Ali Laftih Abbas, editorial secretary of the paper, said that the “American forces came suddenly, storming the building and smashing furniture and other contents.” Abbas added that the Americans detained everyone in the building, including journalists, administrators and security guards, and confiscated the guards' weapons. The women, including four female journalists were released after being interrogated for a number of hours separately from the men, but the Americans continued to detain the remaining employees in the building, Aswat al-Iraq reported in Arabic.

Abbas criticized the position of the Iraqi government, which has not issued a statement condemning the raid.

The raid took place less than 72 hours after American troops stormed the headquarters of the Iraqi Journalists’ Syndicate in the capital, during which time five security guards were arrested and equipment confiscated. As reported by IraqSlogger yesterday, Iraqi journalists demonstrated on Wednesday against the raid on the syndicate, demanding that the government investigate.

Some al-Da`wa journalists believe that there is a connection between the two raids since most of those arrested were members of the syndicate and in the first raid American troops had confiscated records with the names and titles of journalists who are members of the syndicate. Some of these journalists worry that American forces might raid their homes and arrest them, according to the Observatory for Journalistic Freedoms, an Iraqi watchdog that seeks to protect press freedom in the country.

The Observatory condemned both of the raids and demanded an immediate government investigation. The organization also called for a UN specialist to be sent to Iraq to monitor events.

There has been no official American comment on the raids.