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As-Shafaa'i(Brother)
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Revenge spree against Sunni residents
Shia militias and policemen enraged by Tuesday’s truck blasts in the northwestern Iraqi town of Tal Afar went on a revenge spree against Sunni residents there, killing more than 60 people, officials said.
Iraqi officials said the killings took place in the al-Wahada district, where tensions have been growing among Shia, Sunni and Turkmen residents.
The shootings were in apparent reprisal for yesterday’s massive truck bombings in a Shia area in Talafar that claimed the lives of more than 63 people.
"A violent incident happened [on Tuesday] and a reprisal act happened in al-Wahada, which is in the south of the town, just after the bombings," said an Iraqi army spokesman in Mosul, Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Ahmed Salah.
Police said gunmen roamed Sunni districts in the city, storming homes and shooting residents.
"Shia armed groups killed Sunni men inside their homes," said the town's mayor Brigadier Najim al-Jubouri.
Ali al-Talafari, a Sunni member of the local Turkomen Front Party, said the Iraqi army detained 18 Shia policemen accused of being involved in the shootings after they were identified by Sunni families targeted in al-Wahada district. He also said the attackers included Shia militiamen.
More than 60 Sunnis had been killed, al-Talafari said.
“Shot in the head”
A senior hospital official in the town said the victims were men between the ages of 15 and 60, adding that most of them were handcuffed and blindfolded and killed with a shot to the back of the head.
"They are lying in the grounds. We don't have enough space in the hospital. All of the victims were shot in the head," one doctor at the Talafar hospital said.
The shooting rampage continued for more than two hours, police said.
Army troops later moved into Sunni areas in the town to stop the violence, and a curfew was imposed on the entire town. The army also deployed armored vehicles in the city and even banned police from moving.
"The local Tal Afar police have been confined to their bases and policemen from Mosul are moving there to replace them,” said Lt Col Mohammed Ahmed Salah.
"The situation is under control right now and we have started an investigation into the incident,” said Lt Col Mohammed Ahmed Salah.
Tal Afar, located 260 miles northwest of Baghdad, is in the province of Ninevah, of which Mosul is the capital. It is a mainly Turkomen city with some 60% of its residents following Shia Islam and the rest mostly Sunnis.
Truck bombings
The violence came a day after two truck bombs exploded in crowded markets in Tal Afar, killing at least 63 people and wounding 125.
U.S. occupation forces carried out an offensive in Tal Afar in 2005 to curb violence in the city.
In a speech last March, marking the third anniversary of the Iraq War, President Bush cited the Tal Afar operation as an example that gave him “confidence in our strategy,” saying that the town had been effectively liberated from rebels’ control.
Now, two years after Bush’s speech, the town still suffers deadly attacks.
Hundreds of Iraqis stuffed in small prisons
Hundreds of Iraqis arrested in the ongoing U.S.-led security crackdown in Baghdad are being detained in two prisons run by the Defense Ministry that were designed to hold only a few dozen people, The New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing an Iraqi monitoring group.
About 705 people are packed into an area built for 75 at one of the detention centers, in the town of Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad, the Times’ report said.
The other prison, in Muthana Air Base, holds 272 people in a space designed to hold about 50.
The detainees also include two women and four boys, who are being detained in violation of regulations that require juveniles to be separated from adults and men from women, according to an official with the monitoring group, Maan Zeki Khadum.
The prisons have been suffering from "fast detention and very slow release, especially for those who are not guilty,” Khadoum said.
He also said his monitoring group doesn’t know the sectarian composition of the detainee populations, or how long the detention centers have suffered from such extreme overcrowding.
Source: Aljazeera.com
Revenge spree against Sunni residents
Shia militias and policemen enraged by Tuesday’s truck blasts in the northwestern Iraqi town of Tal Afar went on a revenge spree against Sunni residents there, killing more than 60 people, officials said.
Iraqi officials said the killings took place in the al-Wahada district, where tensions have been growing among Shia, Sunni and Turkmen residents.
The shootings were in apparent reprisal for yesterday’s massive truck bombings in a Shia area in Talafar that claimed the lives of more than 63 people.
"A violent incident happened [on Tuesday] and a reprisal act happened in al-Wahada, which is in the south of the town, just after the bombings," said an Iraqi army spokesman in Mosul, Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Ahmed Salah.
Police said gunmen roamed Sunni districts in the city, storming homes and shooting residents.
"Shia armed groups killed Sunni men inside their homes," said the town's mayor Brigadier Najim al-Jubouri.
Ali al-Talafari, a Sunni member of the local Turkomen Front Party, said the Iraqi army detained 18 Shia policemen accused of being involved in the shootings after they were identified by Sunni families targeted in al-Wahada district. He also said the attackers included Shia militiamen.
More than 60 Sunnis had been killed, al-Talafari said.
“Shot in the head”
A senior hospital official in the town said the victims were men between the ages of 15 and 60, adding that most of them were handcuffed and blindfolded and killed with a shot to the back of the head.
"They are lying in the grounds. We don't have enough space in the hospital. All of the victims were shot in the head," one doctor at the Talafar hospital said.
The shooting rampage continued for more than two hours, police said.
Army troops later moved into Sunni areas in the town to stop the violence, and a curfew was imposed on the entire town. The army also deployed armored vehicles in the city and even banned police from moving.
"The local Tal Afar police have been confined to their bases and policemen from Mosul are moving there to replace them,” said Lt Col Mohammed Ahmed Salah.
"The situation is under control right now and we have started an investigation into the incident,” said Lt Col Mohammed Ahmed Salah.
Tal Afar, located 260 miles northwest of Baghdad, is in the province of Ninevah, of which Mosul is the capital. It is a mainly Turkomen city with some 60% of its residents following Shia Islam and the rest mostly Sunnis.
Truck bombings
The violence came a day after two truck bombs exploded in crowded markets in Tal Afar, killing at least 63 people and wounding 125.
U.S. occupation forces carried out an offensive in Tal Afar in 2005 to curb violence in the city.
In a speech last March, marking the third anniversary of the Iraq War, President Bush cited the Tal Afar operation as an example that gave him “confidence in our strategy,” saying that the town had been effectively liberated from rebels’ control.
Now, two years after Bush’s speech, the town still suffers deadly attacks.
Hundreds of Iraqis stuffed in small prisons
Hundreds of Iraqis arrested in the ongoing U.S.-led security crackdown in Baghdad are being detained in two prisons run by the Defense Ministry that were designed to hold only a few dozen people, The New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing an Iraqi monitoring group.
About 705 people are packed into an area built for 75 at one of the detention centers, in the town of Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad, the Times’ report said.
The other prison, in Muthana Air Base, holds 272 people in a space designed to hold about 50.
The detainees also include two women and four boys, who are being detained in violation of regulations that require juveniles to be separated from adults and men from women, according to an official with the monitoring group, Maan Zeki Khadum.
The prisons have been suffering from "fast detention and very slow release, especially for those who are not guilty,” Khadoum said.
He also said his monitoring group doesn’t know the sectarian composition of the detainee populations, or how long the detention centers have suffered from such extreme overcrowding.
Source: Aljazeera.com
