World

30 Dead In Sectarian Violence

March 26, 2006 / 6:32 PM EST / CBS/AP

Police and soldiers responding to a report of killings Sunday found 30 bodies, most beheaded, near a village north of Baghdad, in one of the bloodiest episodes in a cycle of apparent sectarian killings terrorizing Iraq, police reported.

Authorities reported no immediate information on the identities of the victims or on who may have been responsible.

The dead were being transferred to a morgue in Baghdad, said police 1st Lt. Thaer Mahmoud.

Brig. Saman Talabani, an Iraqi army commander, had said earlier the presence of the corpses was reported by residents in Mullah Eid, a village near the town of Buhriz, a former stronghold of ex-President Saddam Hussein's Baath Party about 35 miles north of Baghdad.

Talabani said he had sent a battalion of soldiers to join a team from Diyala hospital to deal with the reported victims.

But then a military officer, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak, said soldiers had turned back from the scene, fearing an ambush. The search team apparently did continue later, however, and discovered the bodies.

These types of sectarian killings have been taking place all around this area with bodies turning up on the streets from Baghdad all the way to Mosul, CBS News correspondent Lara Logan reports from the Iraqi capital.

Typically, these kinds of corpses, when they appear, have no identification on them. The bodies are naked or nearly naked, but the most crucial thing is with no identification on them it slows down the process of who the dead are and why they have been killed, Logan said.

Talabani said he had sent a battalion of soldiers to join a team from Diyala hospital to deal with the reported victims.

Iraq has seen a flurry of sectarian killings among Sunnis and Shiites since the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra, a predominantly Sunni city, 60 miles north of Baghdad.

The Sunnis who dominate the area north of Baghdad were fervent supporters of Saddam, whose Sunni-led regime ruled Iraq for decades and brutally oppressed majority Shiite Muslims and minority Kurds.

In other recent developments:

Iraqi authorities reported late Sunday that U.S. forces raided an Interior Ministry building and arrested 40 policemen after discovering 17 non-Iraqi prisoners in the facility. Police 1st Lt. Thayer Mahmoud said the arrested police were being held for investigation, but the reason was not known.

On the Sunday morning talk shows, Bush administration officials, notably Rice and National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley talked about connections between Iran with the Iraq insurgency and al-Qaeda. Hadley told CBS News correspondent Gloria Borger on Face The Nation, "Clearly, there are contacts between Iran and elements in Iran and groups in Iraq that are promoting violence. We also have evidence of equipment that clearly was of Iranian origin showing up in improvised explosive devices that are killing Iraqis and killing the coalition."

A 13-year-old boy was killed by a roadside bomb as he walked to school in the southern city of Basra, one of 20 victims of violence that continued to rattle Iraq Sunday. The explosion occurred at 7:30 a.m. as children were arriving for class in the center of Basra, about 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, police Capt. Mushtaq Kadim said. The school week begins Sunday and runs through Thursday in Iraq, where Friday is the day of prayer for Muslims.

The Bush administration will ask Russia about a Pentagon report that Moscow turned over information on American troop movements and other military plans to Saddam Hussein during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday. "Any implication that there were those from a foreign government who may have been passing information to the Iraqis prior to the invasion would be, of course, very worrying," Rice said. Moscow denied the report's findings.

The U-S-S McCampbell collided with an oil tanker late Saturday about 30 miles southeast of the Iraqi coastline. Two sailors and two crew members from the tanker were treated at the scene. Both ships have minor damage but were deemed seaworthy.

Abdul-Zahra al-Suaidi, head of Muqtada al-Sadr's office in Baghdad, said U.S. forces and Iraqi army soldiers opened fire at the al-Moustafa Shiite mosque in the Ur neighborhood, killing 18 people in what he called an unprovoked attack. Iraqi police Lt. Hassan Hmoud said 18 people were killed in the mosque. He said he had no other details.

Also Sunday, at least one mortar round slammed to earth within 50 yards al-Sadr's home in the holy city of Najaf. The popular, anti-American Shiite leader was at home but not hurt, an aide said.

A child and at least one guard were wounded in the attack, Sheik Sahib al-Amiri said.

Iraqi troops sealed the area near al-Sadr's home while the cleric's Mahdi Army militia surrounded the structure after the attack, al-Amiri said. Al-Sadr lives near the Imam Ali shrine, one of the most important holy places for Shiites.

Shortly after the attack, the cleric issued a statement calling for calm.

"I call upon all brothers to stay calm and I call upon the Iraqi army to protect the pilgrims as the Nawasib (militants) are aiming to attack Shiites everyday," he said, referring to Wednesday's commemoration marking the death of the Prophet Muhammad.

Najaf police chief called the assault a "cowardly attack" aimed at dividing the Iraqi people by those still loyal to Saddam Hussein.

"But this will not happen," Maj. Gen. Abbas Mi'adal told reporters near the house. "We are ready to confront any terrorist schemes and protect the pilgrims."

There were conflicting reports about the attack. Al-Sadr's aide said two mortar rounds fell near the home wounding two guards and a child, while the police chief said it was just one mortar round that wounded one guard and a child.

Al-Sadr said American troops were trying to drag Iraqis into "sectarian wars."

"I call upon my brothers not to be trapped by the Westerners' plots," he said.

Al-Sadr is a major force among Shiites, especially in Baghdad's Sadr City slum. His powerful militia is accused of carrying out sectarian revenge killings after the Feb. 22 bombing of another important Shiite shrine in Samarra.

The cleric, who was on a regional tour when the Samarra attack took place, cut short his visit and came back "in order for the country not to be pulled to street battles. I wanted to salvage the Iraqi people from these problems."

Al-Sadr has close ties to Iran. His militia launched two uprisings against U.S. troops in 2004.