BAGHDAD - Seven Iraqis were killed in insurgent violence on Friday, including three members of the countryâs main Sunni party who were kidnapped and shot dead in the northern city of Mosul. The three members of the Iraqi Islamic Party were kidnapped in a western neighbourhood of Mosul, as they were putting up posters to call for participation in Decemberâs scheduled elections, party spokesman Noureddine Hayali said. âThey were later executed by gunfire in front of a mosque east of the town, in the presence of many people, none of whom tried to interfere,â he added. âThe killers, who arrived in several cars and were heavily armed, shouted before shooting our members that they considered them as non-Muslims,â he added without being able to identify the gunmen.
| The fellas from the 'Islamic Party' weren't Islamic enough, I guess. |
In a separate attack, gunmen shot dead Aswad al-Ali, an Arab member of a local council, near the Kurdish-dominated city of Kirkuk, 255 kilometers (160 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. An Iraqi contractor who worked with the US army was also shot dead by gunmen near Kirkuk, police said. And a roadside bomb killed two Iraqis and wounded a third as they travelled on a main road near Tikrit, the hometown of former dictator Saddam Hussein, 180 kilometers (110 miles) north of the capital, police said.
An Internet statement in the name of Abu Musab Al Zarqawiâs Al Qaeda Organization in the Land of Two Rivers denied responsibility for Wednesdayâs bombings in the Al-Nahda district of Baghdad that killed at least 43 people. âWe, the Al Qaeda Organization in the Land of Two Rivers, declare we are not responsible for the Al-Nahda bombings. We had no hand in them, from near or far,â it said, while vowing to continue the âjihadâ against âGodâs enemies.â
| "So please don't kill us!" |