Topic: Lecturers, human rights worker among nine killed in Iraq

Media: AFP
Byline: N/A
Date: 19 August 2006

BAQUBA, Iraq, Aug 19, 2006 (AFP) - Nine Iraqi civilians, including two
university lecturers and a human rights worker, were shot dead on Saturday
in and around the flashpoint mixed town of Baquba.

Baquba, 60 kilometres (35 miles) north of Baghdad, is the capital of Diyala
province and is in the grip of a vicious dirty war between rival Sunni and
Shiite death squads.

Two lecturers from the University of Diyala, Karim Salman and Mohammed
Abdulredha, were shot dead in their car by unidentified gunmen as they left
work, a police officer told AFP.

Six more local civilians were killed in separate shootings in markets and on
roadsides around Baquba and Bohruz, just south of the town, he added.

Officers also found the bullet-riddled body of Ibrahim Jawad Rubaie in his
car. Rubaie was carrying an identity card from the Iraqi National Committee
for Human Rights, the officer said.

The killings came amid high tensions in Iraq on the eve of the anniversary
of the death of a revered Shiite imam.