BAGHDAD, Iraq – Gunmen and roadside bombs killed at least 11 people across Iraq on Monday, while police found the bullet-riddled bodies of two men in the capital, the latest victims of sectarian killings.
In southern Baghdad, police found the bodies of two brothers seized from their home late Sunday by men claiming to be Interior Ministry commandos, said Lt. Maitham Abdul-Razzaq. The two brothers, both Sunni Arabs, were shot repeatedly and found with their hands and legs bound.
Military deaths
The latest identifications reported by the U.S. military of personnel who recently died in Iraq: Army Spc. Jesse M. Zamora; 22; Las Cruces, N.M.; killed Friday in Beiji when his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb; assigned to the Army’s 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky. Army Sgt. 1st Class Lance S. Cornett; 33; London, Ky.; killed Friday by injuries received during combat in the vicinity of Ramadi, Iraq; assigned to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, N.C. Army 1st. Lt. Simon T. Cox Jr.; 30; Mesquite, Texas; killed Thursday when his vehicle was struck by a roadside explosive in Taji; assigned to the Army’s 1st Battalion, 66th Armored Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas. |
Sectarian tensions are high ahead of the feast of Ashoura on Wednesday, which marks the seventh century death in battle of the revered Shiite saint Imam Hussein, grandson of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
Sunni extremists have targeted the past two Ashoura festivals. Eight suicide bombers killed 55 Shiites last year. In 2004, at least 181 people died in bombings at Shiite shrines in Baghdad and Karbala.
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