Baghdad Morgue Took In Close To 2000 Bodies In July
Jacob Cherian - All Headline News Staff Writer Baghdad, Iraq (AHN) - Approximately 2000 bodies were taken to the Baghdad morgue in July. This has been the highest count in the five months of rising sectarian violence. Morgue assistant manager Dr Abdul Razzaq al-Obaidi told Reuters on Wednesday that about 90 percent had died violently: "Most of the cases have gunshot wounds to the head. Some of them were strangled and others were beaten to death with clubs." The statistics come in light of a new poll revealing that more and more Americans are not in favor of the continuing presence of their troops in Iraq. The morgue toll in June was 1,596. The February bombing of the Shi'ite Golden Mosque of Samarra has triggered the continuing explosion of sectarian violence. Figures from Iraq's health, interior, and defense ministries show a death toll of 1000 civilians killed in July as a result of "terrorist" attacks. Sunni Arab leaders are accusing Shi'ite militia of running death squads but the Shi'ites deny this. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has said he will confront the armed militias but he risks alienation from parties in his government who have ties with the militia groups. Al-Maliki says that a consensus is developing among religious leaders and prominent tribe leaders to stop the killings and the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalizad, supports him. But that has not stopped the violence on the |
