The bodies of 18 men -- bound, blindfolded and strangled -- were found in a Sunni Arab district of Baghdad, apparent victims of the sectarian turmoil gripping Iraq that threatens the formation of a coalition government.
Separately, gunmen in Iraqi police commando uniforms stormed the offices of a private security company and kidnapped as many as 50 employees, police reported.
The attackers hit the al-Rawafid Security Co, a private Iraqi-owned business, at 4:30pm and forced the workers into seven vehicles, including several white SUV's, Interior Ministry Major Felah Al-Mohammedawi said.
Meanwhile, Iraq's Shiite interior minister, a hated figure for many Sunnis who accuse him of condoning death squads, escaped an apparent assassination attempt yesterday after his convoy was hit by a roadside bomb as it left the ministry compound in Baghdad.
The minister, however, was not in his car at the time.
The bombing of an important Shiite shrine in Samarra on Feb. 22 has pitched Iraq towards civil war, unleashing a wave of sectarian killings and deepening the divide and mutual suspicion between the country's majority Shiites and minority Sunnis.
The dumping of bodies bearing signs of torture and killed execution-style has long been a feature of the violence.
The 18 bodies discovered by US troops in western Baghdad late on Tuesday had all been garrotted and had their hands bound with plastic ties, police and hospital officials said.
There was confusion over the identities of the victims, a mixture of middle-aged and young men in civilian clothes.
IDENTITIES UNKNOWN
A policeman at the Yarmuk hospital morgue pointed to their clothing and long hair as an indication some may have been foreign religious extremists linked to al-Qaeda, but reporters who saw the bodies said many appeared to be Iraqis.
"I saw the bodies when they arrived," said a policeman at the hospital. "I saw blood and signs of beating. The police who brought them said they weren't Iraqis."
Senior officials, aware of the potential for sectarian anger if it becomes clear all are either Sunni or Shiite Muslims, made no formal comment on the religious identities of the dead.
The US military said a patrol found the bodies in the western Mansour district after receiving reports of a suspicious vehicle on the side of the road.
Sunnis have accused the Shiite-led, US-backed government's police and other security forces under the control of Interior Minister Bayan Jabor of abducting and killing Sunni civilians -- an accusation that both Jabor and the police deny.
Interior Ministry vehicles normally used to transport Jabor and his aides were attacked as they left the ministry yesterday to fill up at a nearby gasoline station.
A roadside bomb completely destroyed one car in the convoy, killing two and wounding five, a police source said.
Meanwhile, a string of explosions yesterday killed at least four people -- including two young boys -- and injured four in Baghdad, police said.
IRAN ACCUSED
In related news, US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld accused Tehran of dispatching elements of its Revolutionary Guard to stir trouble inside Iraq.
Rumsfeld offered few details about his allegation of interference by Iran, which fought an eight-year-long war with Iraq in the 1980s and shares a largely unguarded border.
"They are currently putting people into Iraq to do things that are harmful to the future of Iraq," he told a Pentagon news conference on Tuesday. "And it is something that they, I think, will look back on as having been an error in judgment."
Rumsfeld did not elaborate except to say the infiltrators were members of the al-Quds Division of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the network of soldiers and vigilantes whose mandate is to defeat threats to the nation's 1979 Islamic revolution.
The al-Quds Division is responsible for operations outside Iranian territory.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS