Baghdad, Iraq – Suspected al-Qaeda fighters stormed two villages near Baqubah on Thursday, bombed the house of a local Sunni sheik and kidnapped a group of mostly women. Residents were finally able to drive off the attackers and end the deadly rampage.
Seventeen villagers, including seven women, were killed in the assaults about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. Ten al-Qaeda gunmen also died.
The twin attacks near the Diyala provincial capital – the focus of recent major U.S.-Iraqi military operations against alleged al-Qaeda fighters and Shiite militiamen – hit a Shiite village and a Sunni village with the same ferocity but apparently different motives.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq has been forced to fight a rearguard action against many of its former allies in the Sunni community who have risen up against the terrorist organization because of its brutality and attempts to impose the group’s austere version of Islam.
Shiite communities remain al-Qaeda targets out of sectarian animosity.
The attack on the Sunni village, Ibrahim al-Yahya, began when about 25 gunmen exploded a bomb at the house of Sheik Younis al-Shimari, destroying his home and killing him and one member of his family. Ten people were wounded, including four other members of the family and passers-by. Some of the wounded were hit by gunfire.
Two captives executed
“They were shouting ‘Allah Akbar and a curse be upon the renegades,”‘ said Umm Ahmed, who was hurt in the attack. She refused to give her full name fearing retribution. “This attack will cause the uprising against them to spread to other villages.”
Seven people were kidnapped. Two of the abducted men were later found shot in the head on a road leading out of town. The rest of the captives were women, and their fate was unknown.
Al-Shimari and his village apparently came under attack after he called on the men there to rise up against al-Qaeda.
While the Sunni village was under attack, another band of alleged al-Qaeda fighters stormed Timim, the nearby Shiite village and an obvious sectarian target, according to Baqubah police Brig. Ali Dlaiyan, who reported both assaults and gave the casualty tolls. He said the villagers were able to fight off the attack in a 30-minute gun battle.
A police vehicle rushing to the attack scene crashed and two policemen were killed, according to officials in the Diyala provincial police force who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.
Another U.S. soldier slain
Meanwhile, a U.S. soldier was killed and four were wounded in combat operations west of the capital, the military reported Thursday. The attack occurred Wednesday. The death raised to at least 3,724 members of the U.S. military who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
The U.S. general who commands troops in northern Iraq issued a statement of condolences for the 14 soldiers who were killed Wednesday when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed shortly after picking up a group of troopers who had just completed a night operation in Tamim province, home to the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
Also Thursday, an investigating officer recommended dismissing all charges against a Marine accused of murdering two girls in an assault that killed 24 civilians in the Iraqi town of Hadithah.
Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum, 26, is charged with unpremeditated murder of two girls and negligent homicide on suspicion that he unlawfully killed two men, a woman and a boy. He is also accused of assaulting another boy and a girl.
Investigating officer Lt. Col. Paul Ware said the evidence was too weak for a court-martial.
Tatum shot and killed civilians, but “he did so because of his training and the circumstances he was placed in, not to exact revenge and commit murder,” Ware wrote.
Ware’s recommendation is nonbinding. The commanding general overseeing the case has final say about whether Tatum will be court-martialed.
