SHIITE MILITIAMEN killed 25 Sunni Arabs, including six who were doused with kerosene and burned to death near an Iraqi army post in Baghdad on Friday in a savage revenge attack for the slaughter of 215 people in the capital’s Shiite Sadr City slum the day before.
Iraqi soldiers at the nearby post did not intervene as the Mahdi Army militiamen, armed with machines guns and rocket-propelled grenades, swept through Hurriyah neighbourhood, burning four mosques and several homes, and attacking worshippers as they left Friday services, said police Capt Jamil Hussein.
He said at least 25 Sunnis were killed and 14 wounded in the attacks, which began at 2:15 pm, despite a 24-hour curfew that the government had imposed to try to prevent a surge of revenge attacks in the capital.