IRAQ: Iraq's US-backed government said yesterday that "major neglect" by its American-led military allies led to a massacre of 49 army recruits at the weekend.
In one of the bloodiest attacks on Iraq's fledgling security forces, the unarmed recruits were shot in the backs of their heads after being stopped by guerrillas posing as policemen as they travelled home for leave in the north east of the country.
"There was an ugly crime in which a large group of National Guards were martyred," Prime Minister Iyad Allawi told Iraq's national assembly. "We believe this issue was the outcome of major neglect by some parts of the multinational (forces)," he said without elaborating.
A statement by the US-led multinational forces in Iraq blamed the killings on "terrorists".
"This was a cold-blooded and systematic massacre by terrorists. They, and no one else, must be held fully accountable for these heinous acts," it said.
"The IIG (interim government) is investigating this tragic incident. We will provide full support and co-operation to establish the facts and avoid repetition of similar events," it said.
It was not clear if US-led forces were involved with or trained the army recruits at the Kirkush base where they were stationed.
Hours after Mr Allawi spoke, an Iraqi militant group said it had abducted 11 members of the Iraqi National Guard and posted their pictures on its website.
"We captured 11 of the apostates," the Army of Ansar al-Sunna said in the statement dated October 21st. The authenticity of the statement and pictures could not be verified immediately. A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said he had no information on the abductions.
The Prime Minister had ordered investigators to find out if the attackers had inside information, a source close to Mr Allawi said.
Iraq's interim government faces the daunting task of containing a relentless insurgency with security forces who cannot protect themselves ahead of elections scheduled for January.
Yesterday, US troops stepped up pressure on the rebel-held Iraqi city of Falluja, the epicentre of resistance to the interim government and its US allies.
American forces cut off roads and reinforced positions around the town as jets crisscrossed the sky ahead of an expected assault designed to crush al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his Muslim militant network.
Witnesses said US tanks and armoured vehicles blocked the main highway to Jordan that runs just north of Falluja, as war planes roared overhead. Troops took up positions in empty buildings on the Sunni Muslim city's southern perimeter.
A civilian driver was shot dead near a US checkpoint on the highway, witnesses said.
Only one road leading north west out of Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, was open to civilian traffic. Many families have already fled Falluja fearing a US offensive.
The US military said it carried out a "precision strike" on a Zarqawi safe house in Falluja, killing one of his aides. It did not name the man or his nationality.
It was the second time in a few days the military said it had eliminated a Zarqawi associate without identifying him. On Saturday, the military said it captured a "senior leader" of the group in a raid in southern Falluja. - (Reuters)
The Bush administration has concluded for the first time that some non-Iraqi prisoners captured by US forces in Iraq are not entitled to the protection of the Geneva Convention, the New York Times reported yesterday.
According to unnamed administration officials, the opinion holds that there are exceptions to prior assertions that the Geneva Convention applies to all prisoners taken in the Iraq war.