Iraq's Interior Ministry has launched an investigation into claims that a police death squad has been operating in Iraq, a top official said yesterday.
The probe was launched as police found the bodies of 10 more men who had been shot dead execution-style and dumped in three different areas of Baghdad's predominantly Shiite suburb of Shula.
Major General Hussein Kamal, Iraq's deputy interior minister in charge of domestic intelligence, said the probe was launched following US military claims that they had detained 22 men wearing police uniforms who were about to kill a Sunni Arab man.
"We have been informed about this and the interior minister has formed an investigation committee to learn more about the Sunni person and those 22 men, particularly whether they work for the Interior Ministry or claim to belong to the ministry," Kamal said.
A US general said US forces had found evidence of a death squad operating in Iraq's Interior Ministry, the Chicago Tribune reported on its Web site on Wednesday evening.
A US military official in Baghdad confirmed the report but declined to provide further details. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
Major General Joseph Peterson, who commands the civilian police training teams in Iraq, said the 22 men were employed by the Ministry of Interior as highway patrol officers.
The bodies of Sunni Arabs, bound and gagged and shot in the head, have been turning up in Baghdad for months, fueling allegations of sectarian killings, which Sunni Arab leaders say are often carried out by Shiites in army or police uniforms.
Human Rights Minister Nermine Othman said she believed lower-level Interior Ministry officials were assisting criminals involved in killing Iraqis.
"I think there are many people inside the Interior Ministry involved with these deaths or giving the uniforms of colleagues to criminals," Othman said.
"These officials are helping the criminals by informing them on where targeted people are going or where people are living. They are helping them in different ways."
A Sunni Arab political group, the Iraqi Islamic Party, praised the investigation and said it should result in perpetrators being brought to justice.
"Since a very long time, we have been talking about such violations and we have been telling the Interior Ministry officials that there are squads that raid houses and arrest people who are found later executed in different parts of the capital," said party member Nasser al-Ani.
Early yesterday, five handcuffed and blindfolded men, each shot in the head, were found in one location near northern Baghdad's Shula neighborhood, police said.
Four more men aged between 30 years and 35 were found killed in similar circumstances near Shula on the highway to the northern city of Taji, police said.
The body of a young man who seemed to have been shot early yesterday Thursday was dumped near al-Khair river in Shula suburb, police Captain Qassim Hussein said.
Iraq's majority Shiites claimed prominent security services positions when they came to power following the 2003 ouster of former president Saddam Hussein, whose regime suppressed Shiites.
Sunni Arabs, who were once prominent under Saddam, claim Shiites have been killing and kidnapping Sunnis in a campaign of retribution.
Sunni Arabs, however, form the backbone of Iraq's raging insurgency.
Militant leaders like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi have called for Shiites to be targeted in a bid to start a civil war.
also see story:
The future of Iraq is hanging in the balance
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
Two former Chilean ministers are among four candidates competing this weekend for the presidential nomination of the left ahead of November elections dominated by rising levels of violent crime. More than 15 million voters are eligible to choose today between former minister of labor Jeannette Jara, former minister of the interior Carolina Toha and two members of parliament, Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet, to represent the left against a resurgent right. The primary is open to members of the parties within Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s ruling left-wing coalition and other voters who are not affiliated with specific parties. A recent poll by the
TENSIONS HIGH: For more than half a year, students have organized protests around the country, while the Serbian presaident said they are part of a foreign plot About 140,000 protesters rallied in Belgrade, the largest turnout over the past few months, as student-led demonstrations mount pressure on the populist government to call early elections. The rally was one of the largest in more than half a year student-led actions, which began in November last year after the roof of a train station collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption. On Saturday, a sea of protesters filled Belgrade’s largest square and poured into several surrounding streets. The independent protest monitor Archive of Public Gatherings estimated the
Irish-language rap group Kneecap on Saturday gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November last year. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August. “Glastonbury,
RSS