IRAQ: Violence continues in Baghdad as bodies of 31 men are brought to the Baghdad morgue and funeral processions are held for two guards of an Iraqi official who works for al-Iraqiya state-owned television

Record ID: 353410

  • Title: IRAQ: Violence continues in Baghdad as bodies of 31 men are brought to the Baghdad morgue and funeral processions are held for two guards of an Iraqi official who works for al-Iraqiya state-owned television
  • Date: 15th January 2007
  • Summary: (BN15) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JANUARY 14, 2007) (REUTERS) POLICEMAN SEARCHING CARS MEN CARRYING COFFIN TO THE BAGHDAD MORGUE MAN EXAMINING BODIES / BODIES IN THE GROUND EXTERIOR OF BAGHDAD MORGUE / POLICE SEARCHING CARS MAN LOOKING AT BODIES, COVERING HIS FACE WITH HIS HAND BODIES / ARMED POLICE STANDING BY/ GATE CLOSING
  • Embargoed: 30th January 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA8P3OXA5HZI0AM16IU68I65U0L
  • Story Text: Iraqi Police and an Interior Ministry source said on Saturday (January 13) that they had found 31 bodies, many shot dead and tortured, within 24 hours.
    They said that the bodies were brought to the Baghdad morgue from different parts of the city.
    On Sunday (January 14) police could be seen searching cars outside the morgue, and bodies lying on the floor inside the gated building.
    Many of those killed were said to be kidnapped from homes or off the street, tortured and shot or put to death in other ways intended to terrify the wider population.
    In central Baghdad on Sunday, a funeral procession was held for two bodyguards working for an Iraqi official at the al-Iraqiya state-owned television, police and a source at the al-Iraqiya television said.
    The two men who were working as bodyguards for the Director General of the al-Iraqiya television, Habib Hadi al-Sadr, were killed by gunmen while on their way to the Doura neighbourhood, one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods in southern Baghdad.
    Also on Sunday, a mortar shell hit a house in eastern Baghdad, killing one and wounding four others, police said.
    The attack took place in the Palestine Street of eastern Baghdad, they added.
    "We do not know what happened. There was a bang and then dust all over the house. My family was in the house when the (mortar shell) landed on the car. We went outside to see the car totally burnt out. The neighbours told us later that they heard the sound of the mortar," said Haj Abu Talib, an eye witness.
    "We heard a bang and when we wet outside we found the car was totally burnt out. We don't know what happened," a wounded woman told Reuters at the scene.
    Meanwhile, gunmen opened fire randomly on civilians in southern Baghdad, killing four civilians and wounding scores of others, police said. They said that the attack took place in the al-Sayidiya neighbourhood of southern Baghdad.
    An Iraqi witness said that all those who were killed worked in the market to earn their daily living.
    "In Al-Sayidiya Market they are ordinary workers who worked to earn a living. They are working to earn a living only. The attack took place during lunch time. We have seven victims; my cousins and ordinary labourers were among the victims," he said.
    Iraq is gripped by tit-for-tat sectarian killings between majority Shi'ites and Sunni Arabs once dominant under Saddam Hussein but now the backbone of the insurgency. Thousands of Iraqis have been killed in violence many Iraqis fear is pitching the country toward all-out civil war.
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