Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Media: AFP
Byline: N/A
Date: 14 September 2006
BAGHDAD, Sept 14, 2006 (AFP) - The US military on Thursday reported a
"spike" in sectarian violence in Baghdad that had led to the execution-style
killings of more than 80 people the violent Iraqi capital.
Since Wednesday police have recovered at least 84 tortured and
bullet-riddled corpses in Baghdad.
US military spokesman Major General William Caldwell said there was a "spike
in violence in Baghdad in the last 24 hours".
"A large portion of those are murder, execution-style type activity. It is
associated with sectarian violence. What occurred in the last 24 hours is an
increase in sectarian vilence."
Baghdad is the epicentre of Shiite-Sunni sectarian conflict that has
engulfed Iraq since the bombing of a revered Shiite shrine in February in
the northern town of Samarra.
But the violence in the capital has remained unabated despite a massive
security crackdown, Operation Together Forward, by the US and Iraqi forces
since mid-June.
The bulk of the sectarian attacks are carried out by rival death squads that
snatch people from each other's communities, torture them and then execute
them with a bullet to the head.
Most of these death squads are allegedly linked to Shiite political parties
such as the group loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and the Supreme
Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
Sadr's militiamen -- the Mahdi Army -- finds its followers from Baghdad's
impoverished Sadr City district.
On Thursday, Caldwell told reporters that operations in Sadr City had
commenced over the weekend. "We have been doing operations in Sadr City.
That has gone resonably well," he said.
"Iraq's council of national security has decided that this (Sadr City) is to
be the focus area," Caldwell added without elaborating.
Byline: N/A
Date: 14 September 2006
BAGHDAD, Sept 14, 2006 (AFP) - The US military on Thursday reported a
"spike" in sectarian violence in Baghdad that had led to the execution-style
killings of more than 80 people the violent Iraqi capital.
Since Wednesday police have recovered at least 84 tortured and
bullet-riddled corpses in Baghdad.
US military spokesman Major General William Caldwell said there was a "spike
in violence in Baghdad in the last 24 hours".
"A large portion of those are murder, execution-style type activity. It is
associated with sectarian violence. What occurred in the last 24 hours is an
increase in sectarian vilence."
Baghdad is the epicentre of Shiite-Sunni sectarian conflict that has
engulfed Iraq since the bombing of a revered Shiite shrine in February in
the northern town of Samarra.
But the violence in the capital has remained unabated despite a massive
security crackdown, Operation Together Forward, by the US and Iraqi forces
since mid-June.
The bulk of the sectarian attacks are carried out by rival death squads that
snatch people from each other's communities, torture them and then execute
them with a bullet to the head.
Most of these death squads are allegedly linked to Shiite political parties
such as the group loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and the Supreme
Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
Sadr's militiamen -- the Mahdi Army -- finds its followers from Baghdad's
impoverished Sadr City district.
On Thursday, Caldwell told reporters that operations in Sadr City had
commenced over the weekend. "We have been doing operations in Sadr City.
That has gone resonably well," he said.
"Iraq's council of national security has decided that this (Sadr City) is to
be the focus area," Caldwell added without elaborating.