Richard Tafoya
May 24th, 2007, 01:03 PM
Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/23/AR2007052301780_pf.html
More than three months into a U.S.-Iraqi security offensive designed to curtail sectarian violence in Baghdad (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/related-topics.html/Baghdad?tid=informline) and other parts of Iraq (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/countries/iraq.html?nav=el), Health Ministry statistics show that such killings are rising again.
From the beginning of May until Tuesday, 321 unidentified corpses, many dumped and showing signs of torture and execution, have been found across the Iraqi capital, according to morgue data provided by a Health Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. The data showed that the same number of bodies were found in all of January, the month before the launch of the Baghdad security plan.
Such killings are a signature practice of Shiite militias, although Sunni insurgents are also known to execute victims. The number of found bodies is a key indicator of the level of sectarian violence, but the statistics also include some who died from causes unrelated to the political situation.
...
The rise in sectarian violence has followed a recent increase in mass-casualty suicide attacks and car bombings that have targeted mostly Shiite areas in Baghdad and other parts of the country. U.S. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/related-topics.html/United+States?tid=informline) officials have acknowledged that they have had little success in curtailing such attacks, which have occurred with greater frequency since the start of the security plan than before.
In the 14 weeks preceding the start of the plan on Feb. 14, at least 821 people died in 11 attacks -- typically suicide car bombings -- that killed more than 20 people at a time, according to a Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/related-topics.html/The+Washington+Post+Company?tid=informline) analysis. There have been at least 20 such attacks in the 14 weeks since the start of the plan, causing a death toll of at least 1,098, the analysis showed.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/23/AR2007052301780_pf.html
More than three months into a U.S.-Iraqi security offensive designed to curtail sectarian violence in Baghdad (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/related-topics.html/Baghdad?tid=informline) and other parts of Iraq (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/countries/iraq.html?nav=el), Health Ministry statistics show that such killings are rising again.
From the beginning of May until Tuesday, 321 unidentified corpses, many dumped and showing signs of torture and execution, have been found across the Iraqi capital, according to morgue data provided by a Health Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. The data showed that the same number of bodies were found in all of January, the month before the launch of the Baghdad security plan.
Such killings are a signature practice of Shiite militias, although Sunni insurgents are also known to execute victims. The number of found bodies is a key indicator of the level of sectarian violence, but the statistics also include some who died from causes unrelated to the political situation.
...
The rise in sectarian violence has followed a recent increase in mass-casualty suicide attacks and car bombings that have targeted mostly Shiite areas in Baghdad and other parts of the country. U.S. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/related-topics.html/United+States?tid=informline) officials have acknowledged that they have had little success in curtailing such attacks, which have occurred with greater frequency since the start of the security plan than before.
In the 14 weeks preceding the start of the plan on Feb. 14, at least 821 people died in 11 attacks -- typically suicide car bombings -- that killed more than 20 people at a time, according to a Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/related-topics.html/The+Washington+Post+Company?tid=informline) analysis. There have been at least 20 such attacks in the 14 weeks since the start of the plan, causing a death toll of at least 1,098, the analysis showed.