Shocker In Iraq: Al Qaeda in Iraq, Dressed in Army Uniforms, Assassinate Awakening Families...24 Killed

Just about the time you think al Qaeda in Iraq is all but done and finished they have been rearing their head over the past few months with some significant suicide bombings but today, al Qaeda in Iraq pulled off one of their attacks that came right from the training manual of the Iranians - a well-coordinated incognito massacre of innocent family members of an anti-Al Qaeda militia with 24 people killed...well, killed is too kind of a word...these people were massacred in their own homes.

Here's the breaking news from DAWN:

Gunmen in army uniforms swooped on a village south of Baghdad, stormed three houses and massacred 24 people from families linked to an anti-Qaeda militia before dawn Saturday, Iraqi officials said.
Among the dead were 19 men and five women, an interior ministry official said, while a security spokesman blamed Al-Qaeda said that 17 people had been arrested in connection with the murders.

“Men wearing uniforms and driving vehicles similar to those used by the army stormed three houses in the village of Sufia, in the region of Hour Rajab, and killed 24 people, including five women,” said the interior ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The official said witnesses had told security forces the killers entered the village just before midnight Friday, and carried out the murders about two hours later.
They tied up their victims before killing them in a rampage of violence, the worst against anti-Qaeda fighters since November 16 when 13 members of a tribe opposed to the jihadists were murdered west of Baghdad.

Get that? "They tied up their victims before killing them..." This is the brutality of al Qaeda in Iraq, this is the legacy that was instilled in that terror organization by former leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. And this is the same brutality that cost al Qaeda its position in al Anbar province. But we see now that even after all of these years, even after al Qaeda in Iraq has been beaten into submission, their memory is long and there revenge is complete.

What I'd like to point out in all of this is that this will continue to challenge the Iraqis after our American troops have left and what the Iraqis must consider is that even a revenge massacre like this has its purpose - it's all designed to set off sectarian reactions - it's the infamous first domino that is intended to set off a line of violence dominos that will provide opportunity and cover for al Qaeda.

What has been so successful in the past few years in Iraq is an American command in Iraq that has had the ability to cool off the heads of those in Iraq that seek instant revenge and when those cooler American Army and Marine heads are gone, the Iraqis may just fall into the trap.

Gunmen in army uniforms massacre 24 people in Iraq

BAGHDAD: Gunmen in army uniforms swooped on a village south of Baghdad, stormed three houses and massacred 24 people from families linked to an anti-Qaeda militia before dawn Saturday, Iraqi officials said.
Among the dead were 19 men and five women, an interior ministry official said, while a security spokesman blamed Al-Qaeda said that 17 people had been arrested in connection with the murders.

The brutal killings come as Iraq’s political parties negotiate to form a government, nearly a month after parliamentary elections.

Security officials have warned that a protracted period of coalition building could give insurgents an opportunity to further destabilise Iraq.

“Men wearing uniforms and driving vehicles similar to those used by the army stormed three houses in the village of Sufia, in the region of Hour Rajab, and killed 24 people, including five women,” said the interior ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official said witnesses had told security forces the killers entered the village just before midnight Friday, and carried out the murders about two hours later.

They tied up their victims before killing them in a rampage of violence, the worst against anti-Qaeda fighters since November 16 when 13 members of a tribe opposed to the jihadists were murdered west of Baghdad.

A defence ministry official confirmed the details of the attack and the toll.

“Our information is that the killers were from Al-Qaeda,” said Major General Qassim Atta, spokesman for the Iraqi security force’s Baghdad operations, who put the death toll at 24 – 19 men and five women.

Atta said that 17 people had been arrested in connection with the killings, and that seven other civilians who had been discovered handcuffed in the village were freed.
He noted that the latter group were likely targets as well.

According to the defence ministry official, the families were part of the Sahwa (Awakening) movement, known as the “Sons of Iraq” by the US army, which joined American and Iraqi forces in 2006 and 2007 to fight against Al-Qaeda and its supporters, leading to a dramatic fall in violence across the country.

Control of the Sahwa passed to Iraqi authorities in October 2008 and since January 2009, their wages – said to have been cut from 300 dollars under US leadership to 100 dollars – have been paid, often late, by the government.

The Sahwa are, however, regular targets of Al-Qaeda, which remains active in the country.

Hour Rajab is a mainly agricultural region on Baghdad's outskirts, mostly populated by the Jubur and the Janabat tribes.
Though the frequency of attacks has dropped significantly across Iraq since its peak in 2006 and 2007, figures released on Thursday showed the number of Iraqis killed in violence last month was the highest this year.

Altogether 367 people died as a result of attacks in March, the fourth consecutive month in which the overall number of people killed was higher than the same month a year previously.

Saturday’s violence comes as Iraq’s two biggest political blocs – the Iraqiya list of ex-premier Iyad Allawi and the State of Law Alliance of sitting prime minister Nuri al-Maliki – battle to form coalition governments, more than a week after results from the March 7 polls were released.

Both American and Iraqi security officials have warned that a lengthy period of government formation could give insurgent groups and Al-Qaeda an opening to carry out attacks. – AFP