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Iraq: Gunmen massacre 16 Kurdish villagers in Diyala
Province
20.5.2007 |
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May 20, 2007
Sulaimaniyah, Kurdistan region (Iraq), --
Gunmen wearing Iraqi military uniforms slaughtered
16 Kurdish villagers on Saturday, officials said,
blaming Al-Qaeda for the massacre.
Brigadier General Nadhim Sharif, commander of Iraqi
border forces in Diyala Province, told AFP the gang
stormed the village of Qara Lus, near the Iranian
border, 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of
Baghdad, at dawn.
A US military spokesman said the military was
investigating reports of the attack that had been
received from the Iraq army.
"They report AIF (insurgents) dressed in Iraqi army
uniforms killed 15 civilians and wounded one other,"
he said.
The mayor of the nearby town of Mandali,
Abdul-Hussein Murad, confirmed Sharif's report that
15 men had been killed and added that a woman was
also among the victims, bringing the death toll to
16.
Sharif said the gunmen arrived at 6:00 am (0200 GMT)
and went house to house, masquerading as security
forces on a legitimate mission.
"They then searched the houses and ordered the
people to leave. They separated men from the women
and children and then they shot at the men, killing
13 immediately and two others a little later," he
said.
The commander blamed the attack on the so-called
"Islamic State of Iraq", an alliance of Sunni
militant groups that serves as a front for Al-Qaeda
in Iraq and has a strong presence in the war-torn
province of Diyala.
Qara Lus is a small community of Failis, or Kurdish
Shiites, a minority group that has been targeted in
the past by Sunni extremists.
AFP
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