Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Shiite gunmen go on killing rampage in Tal Afar
Security
(Reuters) - Gunmen rampaged through a Sunni district in the northwestern Iraqi town of Tal Afar overnight, killing more than 50 people in apparent reprisal for bombings in a Shi'ite area, Iraqi officials said on Wednesday. The attack was on the Sunni district of al-Wahda in Tal Afar, where tensions have been rising between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims, who are mostly Turkish-speaking ethnic Turkmen.
"Shi'ite armed groups killed Sunni men inside their homes. More than 50 were killed," said Brigadier Najim al-Jubouri, mayor of Tal Afar, which is close to the Syrian border and the regional capital of Mosul. He said 18 people had been detained. A security source who declined to be named said many of the suspects were policemen. A curfew was imposed as Iraqi soldiers took control of the city.
The killings came after the U.S. Senate on Tuesday endorsed a March 31, 2008, target date for withdrawing American combat troops from Iraq. The White House threatened a veto, moving Congress a step closer to a showdown with Bush over the war.
Gunmen raided the Tal Afar neighborhood shortly after twin truck bombings on Tuesday that police said killed 55 people and wounded 180. One suicide bomber lured victims to buy wheat loaded on his truck in a Shi'ite neighborhood. A second truck bomb exploded in a used car lot in a religiously mixed area.
"Shi'ite armed groups killed Sunni men inside their homes. More than 50 were killed," said Brigadier Najim al-Jubouri, mayor of Tal Afar, which is close to the Syrian border and the regional capital of Mosul. He said 18 people had been detained. A security source who declined to be named said many of the suspects were policemen. A curfew was imposed as Iraqi soldiers took control of the city.
The killings came after the U.S. Senate on Tuesday endorsed a March 31, 2008, target date for withdrawing American combat troops from Iraq. The White House threatened a veto, moving Congress a step closer to a showdown with Bush over the war.
Gunmen raided the Tal Afar neighborhood shortly after twin truck bombings on Tuesday that police said killed 55 people and wounded 180. One suicide bomber lured victims to buy wheat loaded on his truck in a Shi'ite neighborhood. A second truck bomb exploded in a used car lot in a religiously mixed area.
Violence has seen Shi'ites and Sunnis flee previously mixed neighborhoods, which are now largely segregated along sectarian lines. Some Sunnis in Tal Afar have complained that the arrival of Shi'ite-dominated security forces has led to oppression. Police, who are seen as allied to Shi'ites, are frequently targeted in car and roadside bombings in the town. Two policemen were among 10 people killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a market in the town on Saturday.
(VOI) - Unidentified gunmen blocked the way of vehicles carrying medical assistance from Mosul to Talafar, west of Mosul, to aid victims of three bombing attacks that rattled the city earlier, an official in Ninawa province said on Tuesday."A group of unidentified armed men blocked the way that links Mosul with Talafar to prevent ambulances and other vehicles from entering the city," the Head of Security and Defense Committee in Ninawa provincial council Hesham al-Hamadani told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) over the phone.At least 50 people were killed and 120 others were wounded on Tuesday in three bombing attacks in Talafar, Talafar mayor had said earlier.
Labels: Brigadier Najim al-Jubouri, Shiite militias, Tal Afar, Turkomen
