Tortured bodies of 14 Sunni Arabs found in Baghdad
The bodies of 14 Sunni Arabs who had been kidnapped from their homes in Baghdad by men disguised as policemen were found in the capital on this morning, Iraqi authorities said.
The victims, who were taken hostage in the mostly Sunni area of Dora of southern Baghdad last night, were found lying on a street in nearby Oreij, a mixed Sunni-Shiite neighbourhood of the capital, said police First Lt. Ahmed Hamid. Ranging in age from 20 to 45, the men had been handcuffed and tortured, Hamid said.
Each week, scores of bodies are found across Iraq of people who were kidnapped, tortured and killed in widespread sectarian violence, as the country teeters on the edge of a civil war between its Shiite majority and Sunni minority, including many different insurgent groups and militias.
To protect themselves, many Shiite and Sunni families have fled mixed neighbourhoods of Baghdad where they were in a minority. Such neighbourhoods often are heavily armed to defend themselves and allegedly contain death squads that retaliate against killings of their own people.
