11 Pakistani and 3 Indian Shiite pilgrims shot dead

[Averroes]

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11 Pakistani and 3 Indian Shiite pilgrims shot dead

Reuters

Baghdad: Fourteen Pakistani and Indian Shiite pilgrims were abducted and killed in Iraq's western desert, police said yesterday.

It came a day after the Pentagon warned that sectarian strife there had created the risk of civil war.

The 11 Pakistanis and three Indians, all male, had been travelling to holy sites in Iraq on Thursday when they were attacked in Anbar province, Iraqi and Indian officials said.

The 11 Pakistani pilgrims killed in the attack will be buried at Karbala, the Pakistani Ambassador to Jordan said yesterday.

The envoy, Arif Kamal, told state-run television from Amman that there were a total of 26 Pakistanis, 11 men and 15 women, in the party travelling to Karbala by bus when they came under attack.

The assailants killed the men but freed the women after looting their belongings, he said.

He identified those killed as: Farhat Abbas, Fazal Sherazi, Malek Irshad Hussain, Mazhar Hussain, Malek Imran Ali, Sadaqat Ali, Mohammad Ramzan, Gulam Shabbir, Malek Gulam Hussain, Imran Amjad and Rab Nawaz.

The three Indians have been identified as Jaffer Mashadi of Vishakhapatnam, M Beigh and Mohammad Ahmad Ali, both from Hyderabad.

An official at the Al Hussain hospital in the city of Karbala, where the bodies were taken on Friday, said the 14 men had their hands bound and had been shot in the head. Some had been tortured and one was partially decapitated.

Pakistan said it strongly condemned the killings and again warned its citizens against travelling to Iraq.

An attack on a revered Shiite shrine in February has unleashed bloodletting between Shiites and Sunnis who now form the backbone of the insurgency.

The 63-page Pentagon assessment released on Friday said 'conditions that could lead to civil war exist in Iraq'. "Nevertheless, the current violence is not a civil war, and movement toward a civil war can be prevented," it added.

Key to Washington's strategy of averting all-out sectarian conflict has been the build-up of Iraqi security forces to help enforce the authority of Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki's government, which has so far failed to quell the violence.

A ceremony in which Iraq was to assume operational command of its new armed forces from US-led troops was postponed yesterday at the last minute amid confusion, a US military spokesman said, citing poor planning.

Shiite pilgrims are a frequent target for insurgents, and Indian and Pakistani officials said they had issued warnings against travel to Iraq.

"We had much earlier issued a travel advisory against going to Iraq. I'm sorry it has been disregarded," Indian junior Foreign Minister E. Ahamed said.

Ahamed said the 14 victims had been part of a larger group of 40 people who had crossed into Iraq after touring holy sites in Jordan and Syria.

Police found the bodies of the men in neighbouring Karbala province the following day, he said.

A statement purportedly from Al Qaida's Iraqi umbrella group last week urged Sunnis to launch a holy war against Shiites.

Sectarian violence is spreading north, outside of Baghdad into Diyala prov-ince and oil-rich Kirkuk, it said.

Death squads, sometimes with "rogue elements" of US-trained Iraqi security forces, are heavily responsible for the sectarian violence, including execution-style killings.

The United States has boosted its Iraq force to 140,000, the most since January, with 15,000 combat troops in Baghdad trying to halt the slide into all-out civil war.

Yesterday's ceremony to hand over operational command of Iraq's army from US commander General George Casey to the Iraqi Defence Ministry had been hailed by US officials as a big step towards Iraq taking responsibility for security.

"There was an error in planning between us and the Iraqi defence minister over the ceremony," US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Barry Johnson said after it was postponed at the last minute.

Source

Inna Lillahi wa Inna Ilayhi Rajiun,

Please Recite Surah Fatiha for the Shaheed. May Allah swt ease the suffering of their families (and all Iraqis).

[Averroes]

South Asian Pilgrims Shot in Iraq

Fourteen Pakistani and Indian pilgrims have been ambushed and killed on their way to Iraq's Shia holy city of Karbala, Iraqi officials say.

The victims were taken off a bus and separated, officials said. The pilgrims were then shot dead at close range.

The motive for the attack is not clear but it comes amid increasing fears of sectarian strife in Iraq.

A US Defense Department report on Friday warned of mounting violence between the Sunni and Shia communities.

Police and hospital sources said the pilgrims were ambushed as they travelled in a bus through Anbar province in western Iraq, a stronghold of Sunni insurgents.

The attack took place some three days ago. Police say a number of women on the bus were allowed to continue to Karbala where they raised the alarm.

The victims are believed to be 11 Pakistanis and three Indians. Previous reports that 18 Iraqis had also been killed have not been confirmed.

The pilgrims reportedly had their hands and legs bound and had been shot at close range.

They were understood to be on their way to Karbala, 80km (50 miles) south of Baghdad, to the shrine of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad's grandson.

The ambush happened at a service station in the desert, about 160km (100 miles) west of Ramadi, which has been the scene of numerous killings in recent months, the BBC's James Shaw in Baghdad reports.

It is not clear what the motive for the attack was with some reports suggesting they were ambushed by robbers who stole their belongings.

An official at Karbala morgue said all the bodies bore signs of torture.

Shia pilgrims, both Iraqi and foreign, have been frequent targets for attack, and last month, gunmen opened fire on pilgrims in Baghdad, killing at least 20 people.

Pakistan has condemned the attack, and urged its citizens to avoid travelling to Iraq.

Revenge attacks

This week saw bombings and shootings that left hundreds dead.

On Thursday, suspected Sunni insurgents launched rocket and bomb attacks in mainly Shia neighbourhoods of Baghdad, killing 67 people.

Correspondents say the capital is braced for possible revenge attacks by Shia militias.

Iraq Prime Minister Nouri Maliki held talks with the country's most influential Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, on Saturday to discuss the violence.

Mr Maliki went to Najaf, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, to meet the ayatollah who has previously called for an end to sectarian hatred and urged the majority Shia community to refrain from retaliation.

"If the government does not do its duty in imposing security and order to the people and protecting them, it will give a chance to other powers to do this duty and this a very dangerous matter," the cleric's office quoted him as saying.

Militias 'entrenched'

Concern about sectarian conflict is growing in the Pentagon which issued its quarterly report on the situation in Iraq to Congress on Friday.

Since its last report, the Pentagon said, "the core conflict in Iraq changed into a struggle between Sunni and Shia extremists."

Illegal militias were becoming more entrenched, especially in Baghdad, the report said, while death squads targeting mainly Iraqi civilians were a growing problem.

Armed factions from both sides of the religious divide "are locked in mutually reinforcing cycles of sectarian strife".

While stressing that the current violence did not amount to civil war, the Pentagon's assessment said "conditions that could lead to civil war exist in Iraq, specifically in and around Baghdad."

BBC

[Tiki Tam Tam]

It is high time that protection is provided for foreigners going on religious reasons.

They have nothing to do with the problems of Iraq and are not involved in its political games!

[Sgt.Harris]

This is definately a sad issue in Iraq, the safety of all should be the concern, not just haliburton strongholds...

[SSG VIPER]

bad news may ALLAH rest there souls AMEEN

[DesiGuy]

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bad news may ALLAH rest there souls AMEEN

no offence, But it's funny, How many people souls will be in ameen?

everyday, we hear news, 2 people die in bomb blast, 10 ppl die from suicide bomber, than US throw missile on border which killed 50 ppl.
Than again fighting in Kashmir, Pakistan, Afghanistan, middle east, etc...

Anyways, instead of praying for someone ho died, let's try to save those who are going to die tomorrow.