Sunni men killed for joining talks with Shiites
Six Sunni men who had received death threats for meeting local Shiites were killed today in execution-style killings, police said.
Gunmen stormed a house in Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad at dawn, police said.
Inside, the men – all relatives from the Mashhada tribe – were separated from women and children and then shot to death.
The motive of the attack could not be independently verified. But police, citing information from surviving relatives, said the victims had received threats from Sunni insurgents after taking part in a reconciliation conference with Shiites last month.
The conference was held in the neighbouring town of Mahmoudiyah in late February.
Also today, the Iraqi defence ministry said Iraqi troops killed three suspected militants in Khan Bani Saad, a mixed town northeast of Baghdad. Two men were arrested in the raid, the ministry said in a statement. Seven others were captured in Balad Ruz, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad, it said.
A roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol today in southeast Baghdad, wounding three policemen and one civilian, police said.
