A security patrol discovered the minibus just before midnight on the road between the Amiriyah and Khadra districts. The victims, all men, had been handcuffed, blindfolded and either hanged or shot to death, police Lt. Maitham Abdul-Razzaq said. Police say they have no clues to the victims' identities. The bodies were found near the Amriya district of western Baghdad - one of the city's most dangerous sections, Abdul-Razzaq said. Official figures suggest an increase in such killings since the destruction of a major Shiite shrine in Samarra two weeks ago sparked reprisal attacks. Local people have accused the Shiite-led, US-backed government's police and other security forces of abducting and killing Sunni civilians. Meanwhile, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad warned that the country is vulnerable to rebels’ attempts to exploit the political situation caused by the shrine attack. "There is a concerted effort to provoke civil war," he said.
A security patrol discovered the minibus just before midnight on the road between the and Khadra districts. The victims, all men, had been handcuffed, blindfolded and either hanged or shot to death, police Lt. Maitham Abdul-Razzaq said. Police say they have no clues to the victims' identities. The bodies were found near the Amriya district of western Baghdad — one of the city's most dangerous sections, Abdul-Razzaq said. Official figures suggest an increase in such killings since the destruction of a major shrine in two weeks ago sparked reprisal attacks. Local people have accused the Shiite-led, US-backed government's police and other security forces of abducting and killing Sunni civilians. Meanwhile, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq warned that the country is vulnerable to rebels’ attempts to exploit the political situation caused by the shrine attack. "There is a concerted effort to provoke civil war," he said.
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Amiriyah
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R
Shiite shrine in Samarra
shrine in
D
Zalmay Khalilzad