Suspected al-Qaeda members sit handcuffed and blindfolded at the Al-Karkh police headquarters in Baghdad on October 5, 2013 after confessing that they had killed and threatened Shiite Muslims in the southern districts of the Iraqi capital to fuel sectarian strife, according to police. Violence has reached a level unseen since 2008, and there are fears Iraq is slipping back toward the intense Sunni-Shiite bloodshed that peaked in 2006-2007 and killed tens of thousands. AFP PHOTO / SABAH ARAR