http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=3822125 people massacred in iraqi village
Gunmen in army uniforms storm houses, kill villagers linked to anti-Qaeda militia in south of Baghdad.
By Salam Faraj - BAGHDAD
Gunmen in army uniforms swooped on a village south of Baghdad, stormed three houses and massacred 25 people from families linked to an anti-Qaeda militia before dawn Saturday, Iraqi officials said.
Among the dead were 20 men and five women, an interior ministry official said, while a security spokesman blamed Al-Qaeda said that 17 people had been arrested in connection with the murders.
The brutal killings come as Iraq's political parties negotiate to form a government, nearly a month after parliamentary elections.
Security officials have warned that a protracted period of coalition building could give insurgents an opportunity to further destabilise Iraq.
"Men wearing uniforms and driving vehicles similar to those used by the army stormed three houses in the village of Sufia, in the region of Hour Rajab, and killed 25 people, including five women," said the interior ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The official said witnesses had told security forces the killers entered the village just before midnight Friday, and carried out the murders about two hours later.
They tied up their victims before killing them in a rampage of violence, the worst against anti-Qaeda fighters since November 16 when 13 members of a tribe opposed to the jihadists were murdered west of Baghdad.
A defence ministry official confirmed the details of the attack and the toll.
"Our information is that the killers were from Al-Qaeda," said Major General Qassim Atta, spokesman for the Iraqi security force's Baghdad operations, who put the death toll at 24 -- 19 men and five women.
Atta said that 17 people had been arrested in connection with the killings, and that seven other civilians who had been discovered handcuffed in the village were freed.
He noted that the latter group were likely targets as well.
According to the defence ministry official, the families were part of the Sahwa (Awakening) movement, known as the "Sons of Iraq" by the US army, which joined American and Iraqi forces in 2006 and 2007 to fight against Al-Qaeda and its supporters, leading to a dramatic fall in violence across the country.
Control of the Sahwa passed to Iraqi authorities in October 2008 and since January 2009, their wages -- said to have been cut from 300 dollars under US leadership to 100 dollars -- have been paid, often late, by the government.
The Sahwa are, however, regular targets of Al-Qaeda, which remains active in the country.
Hour Rajab is a mainly agricultural region on Baghdad's outskirts, mostly populated by the Jubur and the Janabat tribes.
Though the frequency of attacks has dropped significantly across Iraq since its peak in 2006 and 2007, figures released on Thursday showed the number of Iraqis killed in violence last month was the highest this year.
Altogether 367 people died as a result of attacks in March, the fourth consecutive month in which the overall number of people killed was higher than the same month a year previously.
Saturday's violence comes as Iraq's two biggest political blocs -- the Iraqiya list of ex-premier Iyad Allawi and the State of Law Alliance of sitting prime minister Nuri al-Maliki -- battle to form coalition governments, more than a week after results from the March 7 polls were released.
Both American and Iraqi security officials have warned that a lengthy period of government formation could give insurgent groups and Al-Qaeda an opening to carry out attacks.
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