Gunmen In Iraqi Uniforms Kill 15
More costumed killing in Iraq:
Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms killed 15 people Saturday in a village northeast of Baghdad. A U.S. soldier was killed and another seriously wounded while on a manhunter for three missing comrades and their captors.
Three mortar shells or rockets slammed into the Green Zone in Baghdad after British Prime Minister Tony Blair had arrived for talks with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. One person was injured, and it is unknown how far Blair was from the blasts. Mortar and rocket attacks against the Green Zone have increased recently, raising alarm among U.S. officials who live there. The Green Zone, a 3.5-square-mile area along the Tigris River in the center of Baghdad, is considered the only secure haven in the turbulent capital of Iraq.
The U.S. has ordered embassy employees to wear protective vests and helmets. This safety measure comes after four Asian contractors working for the U.S. were killed May 3 when rockets or mortars slammed into the Green Zone.
The attack against the villagers happened early Saturday when gunmen wearing army uniforms entered the village of Hamid Shifi. They ran families from their homes and opened fire on them. 15 men were killed, an Iraqi general and a Kurdish political party said. All the victims were Kurdish Shiites, according to a statement posted on the Web site of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
The village is located in Diyala province where violence has risen sharply in the past six months. It is about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad.
Also Saturday, the U.S. command reported five more American soldiers were killed, all but one the day before. One soldier was killed Saturday by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad, the military said.
U.S. officials said the soldier was killed while searching for three 10th Mountain Division troopers abducted a week ago in an attack in which four Americans and an Iraqi were killed.
U.S. military sources said it has expanded the search for the soldiers beyond the the mostly farming area just south of Baghdad where the May 12 attack occurred.
Saturday, nine people were taken into custody in the town of Amiriyah, a longtime Sunni insurgent area, based on tips related to the abduction. U.S. troops also arrested two people in Baqouba "associated" with the al-Qaida command network.
An al-Qaida-linked group had claimed responsibility for the kidnapping during which four American soldiers and an Iraqi were killed.
The focus of the search is around the village of Quarghuli, where they were captured following an attack on their observation post.
Pray for the missing soldiers for their safety and pray for our congress for their illumination.
Labels: al-Qaida, Iraq, kidnappings
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