Abductors In Army Uniform Execute 18 In Iraq

Police in Iraq have discovered the bodies of 18 men
who were abducted from their homes and shot
in the head in a town near Baghdad, the deadliest
this year in a spate of execution-style killings across
the violence-ravaged country.
The victims were taken from their homes early on
Friday by men wearing military uniforms, police
sources said. Two of the abductors were dressed as
army officers.
“It is definitely al-Qaeda because this is the area
where they are operating,” a senior official in Iraq’s
federal police told the Reuters news agency,
declining to be named. The victims may have been
chosen because they were seen as supportive of
Iraq’s Shia-led government, the source added.
The corpses were found grouped together in an
orchard in Meshahda, a predominantly Sunni
Muslim area around 32 km north of the Iraqi
capital.
Such killings are on the rise in Iraq, alongside a
growing insurgent campaign of bombings and gun
attacks targeting security forces and civilians.
Abductors dressed as soldiers have often carried
out such killings in this area north of the capital.
Although al-Qaeda-linked armed groups in Iraq
mainly carry out attacks on Shia, they also target
fellow Sunnis through kidnappings, killings and
extortions.
Security officials, government employees from both
sects and government-backed Sunni Sahwa armed
group members are all seen as prime targets for al-
Qaeda.
On Wednesday, police found the bodies of 13
people around Baghdad, the apparent victims of
execution-style shootings. It did not appear that
Friday’s killings were linked to those earlier in the
week.
Among those killed on Friday were a police officer
and an army official, the headmaster of a school and
a mayor from the neighbourhood. The victims also
included a Sunni tribal sheikh and his son.