Headless bodies make comeback
Medical and security sources say 21 unidentified corpses were collected in the past two days in the restive city of Baaquouba.
Meantime, 16 headless bodies were found during the same period in the southern city of Diwaniya.
Lg. Gen. Kareem al-Rubaie said the bodies were decomposed with the heads chopped off, eyes blinded and hands cuffed.
Medical sources said the decomposed bodies were found in black plastic bags.
Most were killed almost a weak ago, according to Doctor Ahmad Fuad.
Reports of decapitated bodies and corpses decomposing on roadsides are no longer of interest to international media as they have become a way of life for the country.
Media interest is now focused on the raging battles between U.S. and government troops on the one hand and the Mahdi Army of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
The U.S. is even employing helicopter gun ships and heavy weaponry in the fight to flush Sadr City in Baghdad of Mahdi Army fighters.
There are reporters of massive damage casualties mostly innocent civilians.
Mahdi Army draws its popular support from the poorest slums of Baghdad and southern Iraq which are densely populated.
The Sadr City of Baghdad, where millions of impoverished Shiites live, is believed to be one of the most densely populated areas in the world where some of the most ferocious fighting is taking place.
The city is a Mahdi Army stronghold and analysts say it is almost impossible for any force to end Sadr’s influence there as the area has been a traditional bastion of the Sadr family.
Source: Azzaman in English
Indexed under: American Assault on Sadr City, Baghdad, Baqubah, Corpse Findings, Diwaniya, Diyala, Mahdi Army, Sadr City
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- Apr 22, 2008: appletree » Blog Archive » News from Iraq: April 22, ‘08
“Reports of decapitated bodies and corpses decomposing on roadsides are no longer of interest to international media as they have become a way of life for the country.”
Please, somebody tell me that this is an exaggeration. How can this be a “way of life” anywhere. If this is fact, then truly there is no hope, for anyone.
It is somewhat exaggerated but not by much. It quite common - depending on the part of the country you are in.
In parts of Diyālā, al-Anbar, Ninawa, and Salah ad Din Governorates while not a way of life it is by no means uncommon.
One of the things about corpse findings is that the type of injury tell you a lot about who killed them.
Electric Drill wounds to the joints and soft tissues are a speciality of the Badr Brigade death squads for example. As are burnings with irons (the type used to iron freshly washed clothes I mean). Decaptitations are a speciality of groups such as the so-called Islamic Army of Irak who get their inspiration from the teachings of Osama Bin Laden.
A condition of membership of the Gorilla’s Guides team is that you get several tatoos on various parts of the body which we photograph and keep in your file to use to identify your body in the event that your body is discovered. We have used this technique quite often to identify team members’ corpses.
“A condition of membership of the Gorilla’s Guides team is that you get several tatoos on various parts of the body which we photograph and keep in your file to use to identify your body in the event that your body is discovered. We have used this technique quite often to identify team members’ corpses.”
That has got to be, by far sir, the most outrageous and saddest thing anyone has ever told me personally.