|
Two Kurds and 21 Shias taken off bus and
shot at fake checkpoint
5.6.2006
|
|
|
|
A
group of students on their way to end-of-year exams
were among 21 people massacred by gunmen at a bogus
checkpoint in Iraq's restive Diyala province
yesterday, in one of the most shocking sectarian
attacks in the country in recent weeks.
The 12 students, who were studying at al-Yarmouk
University in Baquba, 40 miles north of Baghdad,
were among passengers who were hauled by the gunmen
from their convoy of three minibuses early yesterday
morning.
According to local police the passengers were
separated on the side of the road into Sunni Arabs
and non-Sunni Arabs. The non-Sunnis, including 19
Shia Turkomen and two Kurds, were then shot. Some
tried to escape but were gunned down.
The dead also included several elderly men, police
said. One person was wounded. Four Sunni Arab
passengers who survived the ordeal were later
helping police with their inquiries.
The attack came a day after police discovered seven
severed heads in banana boxes by the roadside in
Baquba, a mixed Sunni-Shia town that has seen a
surge in violence. Another head, that of a local
Sunni cleric, was perched on top of the boxes.
A note with the heads said: "This is the fate of
every traitor. Hell will be his final destination."
Police believe the seven beheaded men were Sunni
cousins who worked together driving lorries for
foreign contractors.
Elsewhere in Baquba, attackers armed with machine
guns and grenade launchers attacked a police
checkpoint, killing six officers and one civilian,
and injuring five other people.
In other weekend violence, 33 people died in Basra
when a suicide bomber attacked a busy local market.
It was one of the worst bombings in predominantly
Shia Basra since the American-led war in 2003.
Tensions in the port city worsened yesterday when a
Sunni religious group in the city accused the Shia-dominated
security forces of killing 12 unarmed worshippers in
a mosque in revenge for the bombing. Police said
they had been following up evidence that gunmen were
hiding in a mosque and had shot dead nine
"terrorists" in self-defence.
Amid the mounting sectarian and gang violence,
Iraq's political leaders remained at odds over who
will run the country's armed forces and police
yesterday.
Legislators gathering in the parliament to vote for
the key posts of ministers of defence and the
interior were told that the session had been
postponed until further notice, after an aborted
attempt by the prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, to
reach consensus among members of the new, but
already fractious, government of national unity.
guardian co.uk
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 