Baghdad, Iraq – In mounting bloodshed south of Baghdad, suspected Shiite Muslim militiamen stormed into a Sunni Arab home Tuesday and gunned down seven family members, including a baby being bounced on her mother’s shoulder.
Shadowed by the violence, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker, co-author of a highly anticipated report to Congress next month, said Washington’s blueprint for reconciliation was insufficient to win back control of Iraq. Congressional benchmarks such as laws to share oil revenue and reform security services don’t tell the whole story, he said.
Crocker and the U.S. military commander, Gen. David Petraeus, may be heading into a storm of discontent as they argue before Congress that U.S. troops need more time in Iraq.
The brutal attack killed seven in the family of 70-year-old Khayrallah Salman. He ran a small grocery in Mahaweel, 35 miles south of Baghdad, and died along with six relatives, including the 6-month-old girl, a 12-year-old girl and two women. A son and daughter-in-law were wounded, said Babil province police Capt. Muthanna Khalid.
A witness said the baby’s mother, who survived, was bouncing the child on her shoulder when the gunmen opened fire about 8:30 a.m.
Other witnesses and neighbors said Shiite Mahdi Army militiamen were responsible for the killings. Police did not give a motive, and allegations against the militia could not be independently confirmed.
The Mahdi Army, nominally loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muq tada al-Sadr, has splintered in recent months as the firebrand cleric has taken refuge in Iran.
Meanwhile, the man known as “Chemical Ali” for his role in gassing rebellious villages during Saddam Hussein’s reign identified himself as “the fighter, Ali Hassan al-Majeed” at the start of his Baghdad trial. He is charged in the brutal crushing of a 1991 rebellion by Shiite Muslims.
