Bodies found in Iraq on day of Rice's visit
By ALEXANDRA ZAVIS
BAGHDAD (AP) - The bodies of 38 men shot execution style were found dumped at an abandoned chicken farm, a trash-strewn lot and an insurgent stronghold in the Baghdad area on the weekend, while at least eight others died in the ongoing shooting and bombing attacks by the insurgents, authorities said.
The deaths raised to 450 the number of people killed in the two weeks since Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's cabinet was announced amid hopes of undermining the insurgency.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on a surprise one-day visit, urged Iraqis to be patient, saying the insurgency can be beaten with the help of a strong political alternative.
"The insurgency is very violent but you defeat insurgencies not just militarily," Rice said after meeting with al-Jaafari and other officials in Baghdad and in the northern Kurdish region.
"The Iraqis . . . are now going to have to intensify their efforts to demonstrate that in fact the political process is the answer for the Iraqi people," she said.
Police in Baghdad's Sadr City, a Shiite-dominated slum, discovered 13 slain men, most appearing to be in their 20s and three of them heavily bearded, lying face down in a shallow grave in a lot Sunday. Residents told police a truck dumped the bodies there early Sunday and three people covered them with dirt, said police spokesman Lt.-Col. Hafidh Maan.
An Associated Press photographer saw the bodies lying in the ground, their hands tied behind their back, eyes blindfolded and at least three bullet wounds in each of their heads. The men were wearing civilian clothes, but there were no identifying documents on them.
Members of the Badr Brigades, a Shiite militia, discovered the bodies while searching for hidden homemade bombs, police said.
Eleven more bodies were found late Saturday at a deserted chicken farm in Huqoul, a town in the Latifiyah area, about 40 kilometres south of the capital, said police Capt. Muthna Khalid Ali. The victims had their hands tied behind their backs and gunshot wounds to the head, according to another AP journalist at the scene.
Two trucks riddled with bullet holes stood nearby. Identity documents and keys found on two of the bodies identified them as the owners of the truck and among 11 truck drivers kidnapped in the area last month, Ali said.
The next day, the bullet-riddled bodies of a judge, an Education Ministry official and a bodyguard were discovered near the same farm and taken to nearby Iskandariyah General Hospital, an official there said. A fourth body viewed at the hospital was found dumped on a major road, with a bullet wound in the head, he said. The official asked not to be named.
The bodies of 10 Iraqi soldiers were found Saturday in the battleground city of Ramadi, 110 kilometres west of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry statement said. The men were shot, but no further details were provided.>>>>continued
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/05/06/1029142-ap.html
By ALEXANDRA ZAVIS
BAGHDAD (AP) - The bodies of 38 men shot execution style were found dumped at an abandoned chicken farm, a trash-strewn lot and an insurgent stronghold in the Baghdad area on the weekend, while at least eight others died in the ongoing shooting and bombing attacks by the insurgents, authorities said.
The deaths raised to 450 the number of people killed in the two weeks since Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's cabinet was announced amid hopes of undermining the insurgency.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on a surprise one-day visit, urged Iraqis to be patient, saying the insurgency can be beaten with the help of a strong political alternative.
"The insurgency is very violent but you defeat insurgencies not just militarily," Rice said after meeting with al-Jaafari and other officials in Baghdad and in the northern Kurdish region.
"The Iraqis . . . are now going to have to intensify their efforts to demonstrate that in fact the political process is the answer for the Iraqi people," she said.
Police in Baghdad's Sadr City, a Shiite-dominated slum, discovered 13 slain men, most appearing to be in their 20s and three of them heavily bearded, lying face down in a shallow grave in a lot Sunday. Residents told police a truck dumped the bodies there early Sunday and three people covered them with dirt, said police spokesman Lt.-Col. Hafidh Maan.
An Associated Press photographer saw the bodies lying in the ground, their hands tied behind their back, eyes blindfolded and at least three bullet wounds in each of their heads. The men were wearing civilian clothes, but there were no identifying documents on them.
Members of the Badr Brigades, a Shiite militia, discovered the bodies while searching for hidden homemade bombs, police said.
Eleven more bodies were found late Saturday at a deserted chicken farm in Huqoul, a town in the Latifiyah area, about 40 kilometres south of the capital, said police Capt. Muthna Khalid Ali. The victims had their hands tied behind their backs and gunshot wounds to the head, according to another AP journalist at the scene.
Two trucks riddled with bullet holes stood nearby. Identity documents and keys found on two of the bodies identified them as the owners of the truck and among 11 truck drivers kidnapped in the area last month, Ali said.
The next day, the bullet-riddled bodies of a judge, an Education Ministry official and a bodyguard were discovered near the same farm and taken to nearby Iskandariyah General Hospital, an official there said. A fourth body viewed at the hospital was found dumped on a major road, with a bullet wound in the head, he said. The official asked not to be named.
The bodies of 10 Iraqi soldiers were found Saturday in the battleground city of Ramadi, 110 kilometres west of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry statement said. The men were shot, but no further details were provided.>>>>continued
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/05/06/1029142-ap.html
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 4:05 PM
1 Comments:
Man this is just getting disgustingly unbelievable...HOW do you just kill 38 people one bullet at a time in the middle of the freaking streets?
This is just ghastly. I sure would like to know who keeps pulling these mass murders like this..i dont think its zarquai (sp).. al quieda itself sure but with all these warring factions who in the hell can tell anymore?
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