Outbreak of sectarian violence leaves over 1,300 Iraqis dead

February 28, 2006

Baghdad – Continued sectarian violence around Iraq has spiraled out of control since last Wednesday when the Shiite Samarra mosque was attacked. According to morgue officials throughout Iraq, the number of Iraqis killed during this renewed violence, has climbed to over 1,300, mostly Sunni. This number is over three times higher than the reports given by the United States military and media. This violence has widened the already existing divide between Sunni and Shia Muslims in Iraq.

According to The Washington Post:

The bulk of the previously known deaths were caused by bombings and other large-scale attacks. But the scene at the morgue and accounts related by relatives indicated that most of the bloodletting came at the hands of self-styled executioners. Sunni leaders charged that more than 100 Sunni mosques were burned, fired upon or bombed in the retaliatory violence after the attack on the Samarra mosque.

"And they say there is no sectarian war?" demanded one man. "What do you call this?"

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