Gunmen in Iraqi army uniforms kill 24 people execution-style in Sunni village south of Baghdad

Men in Iraqi army uniforms kill 24 in Sunni area

BAGHDAD — Gunmen wearing Iraqi military uniforms raided homes in a Sunni village south of Baghdad, killing at least 24 people, including five women, in execution-style attacks, officials said Saturday. An army official said many of the victims were brutalized “beyond recognition.”

At least seven people were found alive, bound with handcuffs, said Baghdad’s security spokesman, Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi. In the hours after Friday night’s shootings, Iraqi officials cordoned off the area to search for suspects and helicopters swarmed overhead.

“The area has many orchards and streams, so it is difficult to secure, but we are investigating,” al-Moussawi told The Associated Press. He said the killings bear “an obvious al-Qaida hallmark.”

Many of the dead were members of local Sahwa, or Awakening Councils — one of several names for the Sunni fighters who changed the course of the war when they revolted against al-Qaida in Iraq and joined the Americans in late 2006 and 2007, officials said. The fighters also are known as Sons of Iraq.

A senior Iraqi army official who arrived at the scene Friday evening said the bodies were handcuffed and had been sprayed up and down with machine gun fire. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release details publicly.

He said some of the bodies were left “beyond recognition.”

Mustafa Kamel, a Sahwa leader south of Baghdad, said the attack happened late Friday in a village in the Arab Jabour area, about 15 miles (25 kilometers) south of Baghdad. Arab Jabour is a collection of industrial zones, villages and palm and citrus groves in the Sunni belt around Baghdad’s southern doorstep.

An official at Iraq’s Interior Ministry confirmed the attack and said the victims were 20 men and five women and that the attackers were in military uniform.

He did not give his name because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Al-Moussawi said 24 people were confirmed dead, although other officials put the toll at 25.

Many of the Sons of Iraq were former insurgents who later teamed up with the Americans against al-Qaida in Iraq. The move, known as the Awakening, was credited — along with the surge of tens of thousands of U.S. troops — in helping quell the violence.

But the question of what to do with these nearly 100,000 people in the long-term remains. The U.S. handed over control last year of the Awakening Councils to Iraq, which pays their roughly $300 monthly salaries.

The violence comes as Iraq’s major political blocs scramble to get enough parliamentary support to form a government after results from the March 7 election gave no single group enough seats to govern alone. Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s cross-sectarian bloc tapped into heavy Sunni support to come in just two seats ahead of incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s mainly Shiite list.

Many fear drawn-out political negotiations to form a government could spill over into violence and complicate American efforts to speed up troop withdrawals in the coming months.

Also Saturday, a roadside bomb exploded as a bus was passing, wounding seven passengers, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) south of Baghdad, said police spokesman Maj. Muthana Khalid.

Associated Press writers Adam Schreck, Hamid Ahmed and Bushra Juhi contributed to this report.