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33 Bodies Found Scattered Across Baghdad
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Sep 4, 6:21 PM (ET)
By ELENA BECATOROS
(AP) An Iraqi policeman stands guard near the site of a roadside bomb explosion, in Basra, Iraq's...
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Police found the tortured, blindfolded bodies of 33 men scattered across the capital Monday and the U.S.-led coalition reported combat deaths of seven servicemen, a day after Iraqi leaders said the capture of a top terror suspect would reduce violence.
Kidnappers also dragged off a popular soccer star in Baghdad, while a security crackdown in the city expanded into the upscale Mansour neighborhood.
An al-Qaida-affiliated group dismissed the Iraqi government's claim that the organization's second most important leader had been arrested, suggesting the man was not a senior figure and denying the terror group had suffered a significant blow.
On Sunday, Iraq's national security adviser announced the arrest of Hamed Jumaa Farid al-Saeedi, also known as Abu Humam or Abu Rana, and said that had left al-Qaida in Iraq suffering a "serious leadership crisis."
(AP) An Iraqi policeman stands guard near the site of a roadside bomb explosion, in Basra, Iraq's...
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But the Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of Sunni Arab extremist groups that includes al-Qaida in Iraq, issued a statement Monday saying its "leadership was in the best condition."
The statement did not directly deny the arrest, or say what position al-Saeedi held, although it suggested he was not the No. 2 leader.
The security adviser, Mouwafak al-Rubaie, described al-Saeedi as the second most important al-Qaida in Iraq figure behind Abu Ayyub al-Masri, who is believed to have taken over the group after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed by a U.S. airstrike in June.
Al-Saeedi was involved in the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra, al-Rubaie said. The attack inflamed tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims and set off reprisal killings that have killed hundreds of Iraqis, like those found in Baghdad on Monday.
Police said the 33 bullet-riddled bodies all showed signs of torture and had their hands and feet bound. The men had been dumped around several neighborhoods, police said.
(AP) A British soldier stands guard at the site of a roadside bomb attack , in Basra, Iraq's...
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Two other bodies were found dumped on a highway in Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad. Both had been shot in the head and chest, said Maamoun Ajil al-Robaiei at Kut hospital's morgue.
The Mujahedeen Shura Council's statement also said insurgents have been inflicting heavy losses on U.S. troops in western Anbar province and in Baghdad.
The U.S.-led coalition said seven of its personnel had been killed the past two days - five Americans and two Britons.
On Sunday, two U.S. Marines were killed in Anbar and two Army soldiers died from roadside bombs in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, and near Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of the capital. Another soldier was killed Monday by a roadside bomb. A sixth American died of non-combat injuries, the military said. |
