30 Dead in Baghdad Clash; Lamppost Hangings Reported

[kurth]

30 Dead in Baghdad Clash; Lamppost Hangings Reported
By MARC SANTORA

BAGHDAD, Jan. 6 — A fierce clash left at least 30 people dead in central Baghdad late Saturday night as Iraqi Army forces fought with gunmen in an area where several residents had been killed and hanged from street lampposts, the Iraqi military said. The fighting took place in the neighborhood around Haifa Street, a mostly Sunni Arab enclave with a small Shiite population.

A spokesman for the Defense Ministry, Muhammad al-Askari, said that an Iraqi Army unit had gone into the area after receiving reports that Sunni fighters had set up a fake security checkpoint and were taking Shiites aside and shooting them. The bodies of many of those killed at the roadblock were then hanged from the lampposts, Mr. Askari said.

He said that Iraqi soldiers had moved in and surrounded the fighters at the checkpoint. In initial fighting there, 30 of the men were killed and several more were arrested, Mr. Askari said, adding that the neighborhood remained locked down. There was no way to verify the figures. Residents living nearby said that they were hearing continued fighting through the night but that it was impossible to know precisely what was happening.

In the same neighborhood, there were reports of clashes as government forces moved to collect 27 bodies dumped behind a local hospital. But it was unclear whether the firefight with Iraqi troops was related. The government said Saturday that 72 bodies were recovered around the city on Saturday, most showing signs of torture. Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki announced Saturday the beginning of a new Baghdad security operation and promised to purge the government security forces of militia fighters and others with sectarian aims. But Mr. Maliki has promised such a crackdown before, and his government has been increasingly seen by Sunnis in Iraq and abroad as dominated by Shiite interests.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/world/middleeast/07iraq.html

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

1. Sounds like the mother of all surges has begun.

[ellisonz]

2. Dear God...

:cry: :cry: :cry: