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By Yasser Faisal
49 minutes ago
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen in Iraqi army uniforms shot dead a 70-year-old Sunni Arab tribal leader and three of his sons as they slept in their home, relatives said on Wednesday.
A Defense Ministry official denied Iraqi troops were involved in the slayings in the Hurriya district of Baghdad overnight and said the killers must have been terrorists in disguise.
"Iraqi army uniforms litter the streets and any terrorist can kill and tarnish our image, killing two birds with one stone," he said.
The attack is likely to fuel sectarian tensions which have raised fears of civil war.
It comes a week after the discovery of more than 170 malnourished Sunni prisoners locked in an Interior Ministry bunker. Some showed signs of starvation and torture.
In the latest attack, an Interior Ministry official said 40 men wearing army uniforms had come to the victims' house in the night. Relatives said they were shot in their sleep.
One victim was holding his daughter. "The gunmen told the girl to move then shot the father," said a relative.
The slain elderly man, Kathim Sirheed Ali, was the head of the Batta tribe, his family said.
Sunni leaders accuse the Shi'ite-dominated Interior Ministry of sanctioning death squads run by Shi'ite militias which attack Sunnis. The government denies it.
WEEPING WOMEN
"I saw it with my own eyes. They were soldiers," said Thair Kathim Sirheed of the men who killed his father and three brothers in the shooting attack.
Sirheed said he and two of his slain brothers had worked as policemen.
"I am going to get rid of my police badge. From now on I will be a terrorist," said Sirheed. Last month gunmen killed another brother and then stole his car and money, he said.
Wailing women in black veils stood over bullet-riddled bodies in the house as the young children of the slain brothers looked on. "Why? Why? Does the government accept this?" asked one of the women.
Such attacks are not unusual in
Iraq, where Shi'ites and Kurds swept to power in January elections which sidelined the Sunnis who had been dominant under
Saddam Hussein.
Iraqi officials and their U.S. allies are hoping elections for a full-term government next month will help unite the country and ease sectarian tensions.
But the big question is whether Iraq's political process will defuse a Sunni insurgency of suicide bombings and shootings which has killed tens of thousands of members of the Iraqi security forces and civilians.
(Reporting by Yasser Faisal, writing by Michael Georgy)
49 minutes ago
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen in Iraqi army uniforms shot dead a 70-year-old Sunni Arab tribal leader and three of his sons as they slept in their home, relatives said on Wednesday.
A Defense Ministry official denied Iraqi troops were involved in the slayings in the Hurriya district of Baghdad overnight and said the killers must have been terrorists in disguise.
"Iraqi army uniforms litter the streets and any terrorist can kill and tarnish our image, killing two birds with one stone," he said.
The attack is likely to fuel sectarian tensions which have raised fears of civil war.
It comes a week after the discovery of more than 170 malnourished Sunni prisoners locked in an Interior Ministry bunker. Some showed signs of starvation and torture.
In the latest attack, an Interior Ministry official said 40 men wearing army uniforms had come to the victims' house in the night. Relatives said they were shot in their sleep.
One victim was holding his daughter. "The gunmen told the girl to move then shot the father," said a relative.
The slain elderly man, Kathim Sirheed Ali, was the head of the Batta tribe, his family said.
Sunni leaders accuse the Shi'ite-dominated Interior Ministry of sanctioning death squads run by Shi'ite militias which attack Sunnis. The government denies it.
WEEPING WOMEN
"I saw it with my own eyes. They were soldiers," said Thair Kathim Sirheed of the men who killed his father and three brothers in the shooting attack.
Sirheed said he and two of his slain brothers had worked as policemen.
"I am going to get rid of my police badge. From now on I will be a terrorist," said Sirheed. Last month gunmen killed another brother and then stole his car and money, he said.
Wailing women in black veils stood over bullet-riddled bodies in the house as the young children of the slain brothers looked on. "Why? Why? Does the government accept this?" asked one of the women.
Such attacks are not unusual in
Iraq, where Shi'ites and Kurds swept to power in January elections which sidelined the Sunnis who had been dominant under
Saddam Hussein.
Iraqi officials and their U.S. allies are hoping elections for a full-term government next month will help unite the country and ease sectarian tensions.
But the big question is whether Iraq's political process will defuse a Sunni insurgency of suicide bombings and shootings which has killed tens of thousands of members of the Iraqi security forces and civilians.
(Reporting by Yasser Faisal, writing by Michael Georgy)
Bravery continues to be displayed by terrorists. Such big men. So tough.
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