Sunni leaders say 90 abducted or slain in Iraq

[Barrett808]

Sunni leaders say 90 abducted or slain in Iraq
By BORZOU DARAGAHI
Los Angeles Times
4/14/2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Sunni Arab political leaders said Thursday that nearly 90 Sunnis had been reported abducted or killed over the past two days by groups with possible ties to the nation's Shiite Muslim-led Interior Ministry forces.
In one incident, as many as 25 men just released from detention allegedly were whisked away by gunmen in SUVs. The Sunnis also allege that 20 corpses turned up in Baghdad, all of them people allegedly abducted by security forces on the morning of April 4.

The facts remain sketchy and difficult to confirm, and the political groups making the claims have in the past exaggerated figures and accounts. Two ranking members of Iraq's security forces said they knew nothing about the fresh reports of abductions and deaths.

But the allegations, broadcast over radio stations and posted on political Web sites, likely will further inflame tensions between Iraq's Sunni minority and Shiite majority. The reports come as each group's political leaders try to depict the other side as carrying out sectarian violence in an attempt to gain leverage in the country's ongoing power struggle.

(more)

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060414/1063070.asp

[Roland99]

1. Shiite militias exacting revenge for decades of violent oppression.

And they are unchecked in their actions.