Suicide attack kills government supporters in Iraq
December 24, 2014
Wednesday's attack took place in Madain, around 20 kilometers (14 miles) south of Baghdad whilst the men were waiting to collect their monthly wages. According to police, at least 15 of those killed were pro-government Sunni militiamen the rest were soldiers. Another 55 were also wounded.
The Sunni militias, known as Sahwa or Awakening Councils, were formed at the height of Iraq's sectarian fighting in 2006 and 2007, and allied with US troops against al Qaeda in Iraq, a precursor to the "Islamic State" (IS) extremist group. They are viewed as traitors by Sunni extremists fighting to overthrow the Shiite-led government.
IS hallmarks
In another attack on Wednesday, four civilians were killed and seven wounded when a bomb tore through an outdoor market in the town of Youssifiyah, 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Baghdad, a police officer said.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for Wednesday's bombings, but they bore the hallmarks of IS, which captured large swaths of western and northern Iraq this summer.
Pilot captured
The suicide attacks also coincided with the capture of a Jordanian pilot after his warplane crashed during airstrikes over Syria.
"Jordan holds the group (IS) and its supporters responsible for the safety of the pilot and his life," a statement read on state television said.
It was the first time a coalition aircraft has been hit by suspected IS militants since forces led by the US began their airstrikes in Syria three months ago.
Jordanian authorities confirmed that the pilot, identified as 26-year-old Maaz al-Kassasbeh, was one of their own: "During a mission Wednesday morning conducted by several Jordanian Air Force planes against hideouts of the IS terrorist organization in the Raqqa region, one of the planes went down and the pilot was taken hostage," the government in Petra quoted a source from the military's general staff as saying.
Jordan, along with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, has joined with Western countries in an American-led alliance formed to launch airstrikes against IS in Syria. The coalition has particularly targeted Raqqa, which the jihadists are using as headquarters.
ksb/sb (AFP, Reuters)