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50 iraq soldiers slaughtered Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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50 Iraq Soldiers Apparent Ambush Victims
Oct 24, 11:18 AM (ET)
By TINI TRAN
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The bodies of about 50 unarmed Iraqi soldiers - many killed execution style with gunshots to the back of the head - were found on a remote road in eastern Iraq, victims of an ambush as they were heading home on leave after basic training, Iraqi authorities said Sunday.
A State Department security officer was killed during a mortar or rocket attack against a U.S. base near Baghdad International Airport, the U.S. Embassy announced. A U.S. soldier was also injured in the attack on Camp Victory, the headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition's ground forces command.
Edward Seitz, an agent with the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, was killed about 5 a.m., said embassy spokesman Bob Callahan. He is believed to be the first State Department employee killed in Iraq since Operation Iraqi Freedom began in March 2003.
The Iraqi soldiers, who had recently finished a training course, were on their way home when they were ambushed and killed about sundown Saturday on a road about 95 miles east of Baghdad near the Iranian border, said Interior Ministry spokesman Adnan Abdul-Rahman.
The nature of that attack suggested an increased boldness and organization by insurgents, who, until now, have mainly used roadside bombs and suicide car bombs in their attacks on the Iraqi military and police.
Diyala province's deputy governor Aqil Hamid al-Adili told Al-Arabiya TV he believed the ambush was an inside job.
"There was probably collusion among the soldiers or other groups. Otherwise, the gunmen would not have gotten the information about the soldiers' departure from their training camp and that they were unarmed," he said.
"In the future we will try to be more careful when the soldiers leave their camps. We will provide them with protected cars that can escort them home."
Gen. Walid al-Azzawi, commander of the Diyala provincial police, said the bodies were laid out in four rows each, with 12 bodies in each row.
"After inspection, we found out that they were shot after being ordered to lay down on the earth," he said.
Lt. Ali Jawad Kadhim, from the nearby Mandali police station, said all the victims had been shot in the back of the head. Kadhim, who said he took photos of the bodies, said all had their hands were crossed behind their heads.
An Associated Press reporter on the scene reported seeing the burned frames of two minibuses. Bloodstains were visible on the ground, along with human remains. Witnesses said the attackers stole some buses. Police said they had found 51 bodies at the site of the attack.
A U.S. military source in the region confirmed the incident, but was uncertain of the number of dead.
Iraqi security forces are constant targets of insurgents, who consider them collaborators with American forces. Attacks have increased by 25 percent in Iraq since the start of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan last weekend.
Most of the targets have been civilians and Iraqi police or National Guard. Just a day earlier, suicide bombers had struck Iraqi security targets north and west of Baghdad, killing 22 Iraqi policemen and National Guardsmen, officials said.
But U.S. forces also come under daily fire. Six U.S. soldiers were wounded in an ambush on the road to Baghdad airport - one of the country's most dangerous routes.
The early morning attack that killed Seitz had fallen on a trailer where he had been sleeping, said a U.S. Embassy official who asked not to be named.
The Diplomatic Security Bureau is the State Department's own security unit. Its agents conduct a range of tasks, from designing physical security for U.S. diplomatic buildings and personnel, to assessing threats, investigating attacks and devising responses.
Secretary of State Colin Powell and the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, John D. Negroponte, issued statements of condolences Sunday to Seitz's wife, co-workers, family and friends.
"The Department of State and I mourn the loss of one of our own today in Baghdad," Powell said, while on a tour of Asia. "Ed was a brave American, dedicated to his country and to a brighter future for the people of Iraq."
"Ed's death is a tragic loss for me personally, and for all of his colleagues at the Department of State," Powell said. "Ed Seitz died in the service of his country and for the cause of liberty and freedom for others. There is no more noble a sacrifice."
Negroponte said Seitz was a "committed professional" who served with distinction. The American community in Iraq mourns his loss and will "rededicate ourselves to the cause he served so valiantly and selflessly," Negroponte said.
"He came to Iraq, as did his fellow Americans here, to help the Iraqis defeat terrorism and the insurgency, establish democracy, and rebuild their economy," Negroponte said.
Recently, Seitz was involved in a U.S. investigation of a suspected terror cell in Detroit. In April 2002, Seitz testified that three suspects were attempting to wage "economic jihad" against the government and American businesses, especially Jewish-owned ones.
But last month, the Justice Department acknowledged its prosecution was filled with a "pattern of mistakes and oversights" that warranted dismissal of the convictions.
In other developments:
- Muslim al-Taie, the Karbala representative of a senior Shiite cleric, Hussein al-Sadr, was killed in a Sunday drive-by shooting in Karbala. One of al-Taie' s bodyguards was killed and another injured, according to an official in Karbala city.
- Militants targeted Iraq National Guard forces near the central town of Baqouba, wounding seven in bomb attacks since Saturday that included an explosives-rigged flashlight, officials said.
Attackers detonated on Sunday an explosive near a vehicle carrying guardsmen to work, injuring three and a civilian driver. Late Saturday, militants tossed a bomb concealed in a flashlight at a National Guard checkpoint 12 miles south of Baqouba, wounding three of the security forces there, the official said.
- On Sunday, a U.S. Marine warplane bombed a suspected rebel target in the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, hitting at militants as they tried to rebuild a command post, a Marine official said. Witnesses said six people died in the strike, and at least one fresh corpse lay at the Fallujah General Hospital. The official had no information on casualties.
- In three separate incidents Saturday, insurgents hit Iraq Army and National Guard forces on patrol in and around the central city of Samarra, lightly wounding two Iraqi soldiers, the U.S. military said.
- Gunmen abducted a 7-year-old Lebanese boy and were demanding $150,000 for his release, Lebanon's official news agency reported Sunday. The boy was kidnapped two days ago while returning from school in the Diyala province east of Baghdad, the state-run National News Agency said. The boy's father has lived in Iraq for 30 years.
The Lebanese government was trying to secure the boy's release, the report said.
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