Police found 30 more victims of the sectarian slaughter ravaging Iraq -
most of them beheaded - dumped on a village road north of Baghdad on
Sunday. At least 16 other Iraqis were killed in a US-backed raid in a Shiite
neighborhood of the capital.
Accounts of the evening raid in Baghdad varied. Aides to the Shiite cleric
Muqtada al-Sadr and Iraqi police both said it took place at a mosque, with
police claiming 22 bystanders died and al-Sadr's aides saying 18 innocent men
were killed.
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A video grab shows
various bodies lying on the floor at a mosque in the Shaab district of
eastern Baghdad March 26, 2006. Politicians from Iraq's Shi'ite majority
accused US troops of massacring 20 worshippers at a Baghdad mosque on
Sunday but police and residents said many died in clashes between Shi'ite
militia fighters and Americans. [Reuters]
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The Americans said Iraqi special forces backed by US troops killed 16
insurgents in a raid on a community meeting hall after gunmen opened fire on
approaching troops.
"No mosques were entered or damaged during this operation," the military
said. It said a non-Western hostage was freed, but no name or nationality was
provided.
Associated Press videotape showed a tangle of dead male bodies with gunshot
wounds on the floor of what was said by the cameraman to be the imam's living
quarters, attached to mosque itself.
The tape showed 5.56 mm shell casings scattered about the floor. US forces
use that caliber ammunition. A grieving man in white Arab robes stepped among
the bodies strewn across the blood-smeared floor.
Separately, 12 more bodies were found near Baghdad ¡ª nine handcuffed and
blindfolded, with rope around their necks and three shot in the head, police
said Monday.
The latest deaths brought to at least 81 the number of people reported killed
Sunday and Monday in one of the bloodiest days in weeks. Most of the dead
appeared to be victims the shadowy Sunni-Shiite score-settling that has torn at
the fabric of Iraq since Feb. 22 when a Shiite shrine was blown apart in
Samarra, north of Baghdad.
Much of the recent killing is seen as the work of Shiite militias or death
squads that have infiltrated or are tolerated by Iraqi police under the control
of the Shiite-dominated Interior Ministry.
Many of the victims have been found dumped, mainly in Baghdad, with their
hands tied, showing signs of torture and shot in the head.
In an apparent effort to clamp down on police wrongdoing, American troops
raided an Interior Ministry building and briefly detained about 10 Iraqi
policemen after discovering 17 Sudanese prisoners in the facility, Iraqi
authorities reported.
The report was reminiscent of a similar US raid last November that found
detainees apparently tortured. That discovery set off a round of international
demands for investigations and reform of Iraqi police practices to ensure
observance of human rights.
In this case the Americans quickly determined the Sudanese were held
legitimately and had not been abused, said Maj. Gen. Ali Ghalib, a deputy
interior minister.
The US military command in Baghdad had no immediate comment.
The raid in Baghdad came a day after US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad spoke out
on the need to cap the sectarian, militia-inspired killing, saying "More Iraqis
are dying today from the militia violence than from the terrorists." He did not
say which militias he meant nor did he define who the terrorists were.