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Shiite militiamen kill 70 at Iraq Sunni mosque
[NEWS.YAHOO] Shiite militiamen gunned down 70 people in an apparent revenge attack at an Iraqi Sunni mosque Friday, as Washington declared the beheading of an American journalist a "terrorist attack."Glad he cleared that up. I was wondering what it was. The shooting in Diyala province will increase already significant anger among Iraq's Sunni Arab minority with the Shiite-led government, undermining an anti-militant drive that requires Sunni cooperation to succeed. And the White House statement on the beheading of journalist James Foley raises the stakes in its confrontation with Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, which it is targeting with air strikes in Iraq. Army and police officers said the attack on the Musab bin Omair Mosque came after Shiite militiamen were killed in clashes, while other sources said it followed a roadside bomb near one of their patrols. Doctors and the officers put the toll from the attack, in which worshippers were sprayed with machinegun fire, at 70 dead and 20 wounded. Two officers had earlier blamed IS for the attack, but the preponderance of accounts point to Shiite militiamen. The government turned to militiamen to bolster its flagging forces during the IS offensive, sparking a resurgence of groups involved in brutal sectarian killings in past years that will be difficult to dislodge. Posted by: Fred 2014-08-23 |
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