Sunni Insurgents Ascendant in Iraq's Caldron of Violence - washingtonpost.com

Sunni Insurgents Ascendant in Iraq's Caldron of Violence - washingtonpost.com: "Sunni Insurgents Ascendant in Iraq's Caldron of Violence
14 Police Officers Found Shot to Death After Call for Retribution in Rape Case

By Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, March 3, 2007; A11

BAGHDAD, March 2 -- In the photos, the 18 men were blindfolded, their hands tied behind their backs. They appeared Friday on the Web site of a Sunni insurgent group that said it had kidnapped the men to avenge the alleged rape of a Sunni woman by members of Iraq's Shiite-dominated police force.

The Islamic State of Iraq said on its site that it had demanded Thursday that the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki hand over the accused policemen and free all female prisoners within 24 hours.

On Friday, officials found the bodies of 14 policemen in Diyala province east of Baghdad. All had been shot in the head.

'The government did not give any importance to their blood,' the Islamic State of Iraq said. A government official said he doubted the dead were the men in the photos.

More than two weeks into a new Baghdad security plan, Sunni insurgents are asserting responsibility for an increasing number of violent attacks against U.S. and Iraqi security forces and civilian targets, while Shiite militias are lowering their profile."