Deepening sectarian violence in Iraq has produced at least 87 more victims -- men shot to death execution-style.
Twenty-nine of the bodies, dressed only in underwear, were dug out of a single grave in a Shiite neighborhood of east Baghdad.
The timing of the killings discovered on Tuesday linked the bloodshed to revenge killings for a bomb and mortar attack in a Baghdad Shiite slum that killed at least 58 and wounded more than 200 at nightfall Sunday.
Revenge was swift in some cases, and by early Monday police began uncovering the bodies, although the discoveries were not immediately reported. The gruesome finds continued through the day on Tuesday, police reported, marking the second wave of sectarian retribution killings since bombers destroyed an important Shiite shrine last month.
In the mayhem after the golden dome of the Askariya shrine in Samarra was destroyed on Feb. 23, more than 500 people were reported killed, many, Sunni Muslims and their clerics. Dozens of mosques were damaged or destroyed.
Underlining the vast unease in the capital, Interior Ministry officials on Tuesday announced another driving ban, this one from 8pm yesterday to 4pm today to protect against car and suicide bombs while the Iraqi parliament meets for the first session since the Dec. 15 election.
After the driving ban was announced, the Cabinet announced that Thursday would be a holiday in the capital, presumably because residents would not be able to get to work.
The most gruesome find on Tuesday -- the 29 executed men dressed only in underwear -- was made after police discovered a 6m by 8m grave in an empty field in Kamaliyah, a mostly Shiite east Baghdad suburb, Interior Ministry official Lieutenant Colonel Falah al-Mohammedawi said. He estimated the victims were killed about three days ago, which would mean that they died before the Sadr City attack on Sunday evening.
An abandoned pickup truck containing 15 other bodies was found earlier on the main road between two mostly Sunni west Baghdad neighborhoods said al-Mohammedawi.
At least 40 more bodies were recovered elsewhere in Baghdad, in both Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods, al-Mohammedawi said. Police reported finding three other corpses dumped in the northern city of Mosul.
Also on Tuesday, the US military reported the deaths of two soldiers in fighting in Anbar province. The statement said the soldiers were assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 28th Infantry Division, Pennsylvania Army National Guard. They were killed on Monday.
Meanwhile, scores of Shiite families have fled predominantly Sunni parts of Baghdad in recent weeks. More than 100 families arrived between Monday and Tuesday alone in Wasit province, in the southern Shiite heartland, said an official.
A roadside bomb exploded on Tuesday among Shiite pilgrims headed to the city of Karbala, killing one and injuring seven near Baqubah, police said.
PRECARIOUS RELATIONS: Commentators in Saudi Arabia accuse the UAE of growing too bold, backing forces at odds with Saudi interests in various conflicts A Saudi Arabian media campaign targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deepened the Gulf’s worst row in years, stoking fears of a damaging fall-out in the financial heart of the Middle East. Fiery accusations of rights abuses and betrayal have circulated for weeks in state-run and social media after a brief conflict in Yemen, where Saudi airstrikes quelled an offensive by UAE-backed separatists. The United Arab Emirates is “investing in chaos and supporting secessionists” from Libya to Yemen and the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia’s al-Ekhbariya TV charged in a report this week. Such invective has been unheard of
‘TERRORIST ATTACK’: The convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri resulted in the ‘martyrdom of five of our armed forces,’ the Presidential Leadership Council said A blast targeting the convoy of a Saudi Arabian-backed armed group killed five in Yemen’s southern city of Aden and injured the commander of the government-allied unit, officials said on Wednesday. “The treacherous terrorist attack targeting the convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri, commander of the Second Giants Brigade, resulted in the martyrdom of five of our armed forces heroes and the injury of three others,” Yemen’s Saudi Arabia-backed Presidential Leadership Council said in a statement published by Yemeni news agency Saba. A security source told reporters that a car bomb on the side of the road in the Ja’awla area in
US President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Canada that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all goods coming over the border. Relations between the US and its northern neighbor have been rocky since Trump returned to the White House a year ago, with spats over trade and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney decrying a “rupture” in the US-led global order. During a visit to Beijing earlier this month, Carney hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China that resulted in a “preliminary, but landmark trade agreement” to reduce tariffs — but
SCAM CLAMPDOWN: About 130 South Korean scam suspects have been sent home since October last year, and 60 more are still waiting for repatriation Dozens of South Koreans allegedly involved in online scams in Cambodia were yesterday returned to South Korea to face investigations in what was the largest group repatriation of Korean criminal suspects from abroad. The 73 South Korean suspects allegedly scammed fellow Koreans out of 48.6 billion won (US$33 million), South Korea said. Upon arrival in South Korea’s Incheon International Airport aboard a chartered plane, the suspects — 65 men and eight women — were sent to police stations. Local TV footage showed the suspects, in handcuffs and wearing masks, being escorted by police officers and boarding buses. They were among about 260 South
RSS