BAGHDAD (AP)- Security forces have discovered the bodies of 10 men handcuffed, blindfolded and shot in the head, police said Thursday.
The bodies of men aged between 25 and 35 were found on Wednesday night in the Maamel area on the eastern outskirts of Baghdad, said police Lt. Osama Adnan. They had no identity papers, he added.
The discovery occurred amid increasing tension between the country”s Sunni Muslim minority and the Shiite-dominated government of Abraham al-Jaafari.
It was not clear if the dead men were Sunnis or Shiites, who make up the majority in Iraq. The influential Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars and the Iraqi Islamic Party, the country”s largest Sunni political group, said they had no information about the incident.
On Wednesday, the association accused Iraqi security forces of detaining, torturing and killing 11 Sunni Arab men, including a cleric.
Sunni groups also accused security forces of allowing at least nine Sunnis detained last weekend to suffocate after locking them for hours in a van without ventilation as temperatures soared to 115 degrees.
The Iraqi Interior Ministry said both allegations are being investigated, and if true, those responsible will be punished.
There had been tit-for-tat killings between Sunnis and Shiites in the past. In May 10 clerics from both sects were killed as well as dozens of followers from both groups.
Asharq Al-Awsat
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