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Insurgents claim deaths as revenge

Meanwhile, the male members of two Sunni families are targeted for their peace efforts.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published March 4, 2007

BAGHDAD - An al-Qaida-affiliated group said Saturday it killed 18 kidnapped government security forces in retaliation for the alleged rape of a Sunni woman by members of the Shiite-dominated police, posting an online video of the officers being shot in the back of their heads while kneeling in a field.

The authenticity of the three-minute video, posted on a Web site previously used by the Islamic State of Iraq, could not be immediately verified.

The group also said it had killed 14 police officers, whose bodies were found Friday in the northeast province of Diyala, in retaliation for the alleged rape.

A 20-year-old woman said she was detained Feb. 18 and assaulted by three officers. The woman gave a name that identified her as Sunni.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, announced an investigation Feb. 19 but cleared the officers the following day, stirring outrage among Sunni politicians. Maliki said the rape claim was fabricated to tarnish the reputation of the police and a security crackdown in Baghdad.

Meanwhile, gunmen rounded up two Sunni families that had received death threats for joining U.S.-organized talks with Shiites around Youssifiyah, a Sunni-dominated area about 12 miles south of Baghdad. The gunmen separated two fathers and their four sons from their wives and sisters and killed the six Saturday at dawn.

A recent wave of Sunni reprisals appears linked to increasingly high-profile attempts to stir popular momentum against Sunni extremists trying to drive out the Shiite-led government and its American backers.

Among those targeted include a range of Sunnis raising their voices against violence: imams, clan-based vigilantes and activists trying to bridge deep rifts with majority Shiites.

For the second consecutive day, just one major explosion rocked the capital. The latest - a roadside bomb - killed three U.S. soldiers, the military said.

In Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad, a car bomb apparently targeting an Iraqi police checkpoint killed at least four officers, according to police Capt. Khalil Muhammad Sarhan. A hidden explosive killed two more police officers in eastern Baghdad.

Information from the Los Angeles Times was used in this report.

[Last modified March 4, 2007, 01:01:23]