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| Iraq |
| Gunmen kill 41 in raid on Iraq market |
| 2006-07-17 |
| A long time ago, the press called those who commit mass murder in a market, terrorists. Dozens of heavily armed attackers raided an open air market Monday in a tense town south of Baghdad, killing at least 41 people and wounding 42, police and hospital officials said. Some reports put the death toll far higher. Most of the victims were believed to be Shiites. The attack in Mahmoudiya began about 9 a.m. with a brief mortar barrage, followed by an armed assault by dozens of gunmen. They killed three Iraqi soldiers at a checkpoint, then stormed the market while firing automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenades, police Capt. Rashid al-Samaraie said. Following the attack, police rushed to the market, arresting people at random in an attempt to find the assailants, witnesses said. In Baghdad, lawmakers allied with radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stormed out of a parliament session to protest the killings. The attack also sent shock waves through Mahmoudiya, an agricultural center with Shiites living in the town center and Sunnis in the outlying neighborhoods. Frantic relatives milled about the hospital, scuffling with guards and Iraqi soldiers who tried to keep order. "You are strong men only when you face us, but you let them do what they did to us," one man shouted at a guard. Some of the victims were transported to hospitals in Baghdad, where a Shiite television station, Al-Forat, put the death toll at 72. Police said most of the victims were Shiites, and it appeared the raid was part of the escalating campaign of tit-for-tat sectarian killings that have plunged the country to the brink of civil war. Mahmoudiya has long been a flashpoint of Sunni-Shiite tension and the scene of frequent bombings and shootings. It is located in the "triangle of death," an area of frequent attacks on Iraqi and U.S. troops and Shiites traveling between Baghdad and religious centers to the south. Al-Forat aired quotes from Shiites blaming the attack on Sunni religious extremists and expressing outrage over the failure of mainstream Sunni politicians to stop them. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #1 The end game has the Sunnis cleared from the Sunni Triangle south of Bagdhad. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2006-07-17 07:54 |