http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L15427966.htmRevenge attacks grip town north of Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Shouting for revenge after the slaying of 14 Shi'ite workers, black-clad militias killed at least 31 people in a spasm of sectarian violence in a town north of Baghdad, police, doctors and local residents said on Sunday.
Militiamen riding in pick-up trucks set up fake checkpoints on Saturday in Balad, a town 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, stopping vehicles and checking IDs in response to the killing of the workers, whose bodies were found on Friday in a nearby orchard with their throats slit and hands and legs bound.
Some of the bodies brought to the hospital in the last 24 hours were mutilated and bore signs of torture from what appeared to be reprisal attacks across Balad, said Qasim al-Qaisi, head of Balad hospital.
He said most of the bullet-riddled bodies were Sunni Arab men.