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MOSUL,
Iraq (Reuters) - The bodies of nine Iraqi
soldiers, each shot in the back of the head, have
been found in Mosul, the country's third
largest city, the U.S. military says.
The northern Iraqi city remains on edge after
anti-American insurgents routed the police force a
week ago. There have been other reports of
captured members of Iraq's new U.S.-backed security
forces being killed.
The nine dead soldiers were found in the city centre
on Saturday by U.S. troops, the military said in a
statement on Sunday.
"Each of the victims was found with a gunshot wound
to the back of the head," it said, giving no further
details.
The Army of Ansar al-Sunna, a militant group, posted
a video on its website on Saturday showing a masked
man shooting two others in the
back of the head. It said it had killed two Kurds
from the government-allied Kurdistan Democratic
Party who had been providing intelligence for
U.S. troops in Mosul.
Ethnic tensions between Arabs and their Kurdish
neighbours from the northern mountains have risen in
Mosul recently with the arrival of
Kurdish National Guards to replace police who fled
their posts during the rebel offensive this month.
Another Sunni Muslim group led by Jordanian al Qaeda
ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said it publicly beheaded
two officers from Iraq's
paramilitary National Guard in Mosul on Thursday.
A headless body was recovered by U.S. forces in the
restive south of the city that day, where residents
said they had heard of two National
Guard officers being killed. The U.S. military has
said nothing linked the body to the security forces.
Reuters
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