- Title: IRAQ: Symbolic funeral is held in Iraq for Shi'ite dead
- Date: 7th December 2007
- Summary: (MER-2) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (DECEMBER 6, 2007) (REUTERS) DEMONSTRATORS CARRYING COLOURFUL FLAGS WALKING THROUGH STREET / CAR DRIVING ALONGSIDE DEMONSTRATORS CARRYING BANNER AND COLOURFUL FLAGS VARIOUS OF DEMONSTRATORS CARRYING MOCK COFFINS AND FLAGS WALKING IN SYMBOLIC FUNERAL PROCESSION DEMONSTRATORS WALKING IN PROCESSION / CHANTING IN ARABIC "THERE IS NO GOD BUT GOD" VARIOUS OF DEMONSTRATORS CARRYING MOCK COFFINS IN PROCESSION (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) UNIDENTIFIED RESIDENT FROM DIYALA PARTICIPATING IN THE SYMBOLIC FUNERAL PROCESSION SAYING: "We condemn this crime in Diyala province. We call on the government and the security forces to put an end to the massacre of the Iraqi people. As you know, we are farmers who work to earn a living and we have been living in this area for hundreds of years. What is happening is that the al Qaeda organisation is crossing the borders, damaging our lands and crops and killing the innocents." DEMONSTRATORS WALKING IN PROCESSION CARRYING MOCK COFFINS AND FLAGS
- Embargoed: 22nd December 2007 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Iraq
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA1OZZI6MPMOYNKCLOURHRK7PDC
- Story Text: About 300 people participate in a symbolic funeral for Shi'ite men killed in an attack by suspected al Qaeda militants on a village north of Baghdad.
Around 300 people staged a symbolic funeral in Baghdad on Thursday (December 6), denouncing an attack by suspected al Qaeda militants on the Shi'ite village of Dwelah, about 45 miles north of the town of Baquba.
Marching through streets of al Ma'amil area, north of the sprawling Shi'ite slum of Sadr city, the demonstrators walked in procession carrying empty coffins, symbolic of those killed.
Suspected al Qaeda militants killed 12 civilians and abducted 35 in the attack in Dwelah on Saturday (December 1), police said. Residents of the village put the death toll at 40.
Police added that ten people were wounded and eight houses burned to the ground in the raid by the gunmen.
One demonstrator on Thursday called for the Iraqi government and security forces to put an end to the killing of innocent civilians.
"We condemn this crime in Diyala province. We call on the government and the security forces to put an end to the massacres of the Iraqi people. As you know, we are farmers who work to earn a living and we have been living in this area for hundreds of years. What is happening is that the al Qaeda organisation is crossing the borders, damaging our lands and crops and killing the innocents," he said.
Dwelah is in the volatile Diyala province north of Baghdad. Sectarian killings and attacks by al Qaeda occur regularly in Diyala. It is a mainly Sunni Arab province which also has significant Shi'ite and Kurdish populations. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
