September 4, 2006
40 Bodies Found in Baghdad on Violent Day
By PAUL von ZIELBAUER
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 4 — The bodies of 40 people, including 25 who were
found blindfolded and shot at close range, were found in Baghdad today,
an Interior Ministry official said, and a mass grave containing 18
bodies of people who appeared to have been executed in the 1980’s was
discovered in the northern city of Kirkuk.
American military officials announced today that four soldiers and two
marines have died since Sunday. All but one of the deaths were because
of hostile fire. Two British soldiers were also killed today in a
roadside explosion in Basra.
The violence occurred on a day when senior Iraqi government officials
announced a plan to formally take over operational command of Iraq’s
army from the United States next week. The handover has been held up for
several week by disagreements among representatives of each government
over the wording of the relationship between the two armies, a spokesman
for the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, said today.
The Iraqi government also announced that two of its most senior
officials are scheduled to travel to Iran on Tuesday, a state visit that
raises the possibility that Mr. Maliki could also visit the country, its
powerful and predominantly Shiite eastern neighbor.
The two officials traveling on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Barham
Salih and the national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, will
discuss ways to enhance economic ties and resolve political problems,
including border security, according to Mr. Maliki’s spokesman, Ali
al-Dabbagh.
Violence continued to plague Baghdad and other troubled regions of the
country today.
Of the 40 bodies discovered in the capital, 25 were found throughout the
western half of the city, apparently shot after having been tortured,
the Interior Ministry official said. The other 15 bodies, found in
different areas across the city, were probably victims of random
drive-by shootings, the official said.
In Jurf Al-Sakhr, about 20 miles southwest of Baghdad, soldiers from an
Iraqi Army regiment killed 14 men suspected of plotting to attack Shiite
pilgrims traveling through the town on the way to the holy city of
Karbala, Mr. Maliki’s office said in a statement today.
The men had fired on the soldiers during a security sweep in the town.
“They were able with God’s help to kill 14 terrorists and arrest 22
people,” the statement said. One soldier was killed in the gunfire.
In a news conference today, Mr. Askary, the Defense Ministry spokesman,
said Sunni Arab insurgents had started renting apartments and store
fronts in Baghdad and packing them with explosives.
“The insurgents used new ways like renting apartments and shops to
booby-trap them by remote control,” he said in a news conference. Iraqi
security officials, he added, have warned shop owners and real estate
agents to more carefully screen potential tenants.
A soldier from the First Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division,
was killed a few minutes past midnight today when his convoy was struck
by an roadside bomb north of Baghdad, the American military said. A 15th
Sustainment Brigade soldier also died early today of noncombat injuries
near Taji, north of Baghdad, the military said. The military said it was
investigating that death.
Two British soldiers were killed today and two more injured when their
patrol came under attack near the southern Iraqi city of Basra, a
spokesman for the British military said.
On Sunday, two marines assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5 died in
fighting in Anbar Province, the military said, and a soldier from the
Third Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Second Infantry Division, died after
his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb near Mosul. Another soldier
from the Third Heavy Brigade Combat Team, Fourth Infantry Division, was
killed by a roadside bomb near Baquba.
Near Kirkuk, the mass grave was found today in Tarkalan, 20 miles west
of the city, near a former Iraqi army base, said Brigadier Yadgar
Abdullah of the Kirkuk Police. Eighteen bodies, including women and
children and apparently Kurdish, judging from their clothing, were
exhumed, he said.
He said officials from the Human Rights Ministry in Kurdistan will
travel to the site to identify the bodies.
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