UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...

eveal a person’s identity and put him/her at risk of sectarian killings. 176 For example, on
9 July 2006, gunmen, believed to belong to the Mehdi Army, set up checkpoints in
Baghdad’s Al-Jihad neighbourhood, inspected ID cards and killed 42 unarmed Iraqis as
soon as they identified them as Sunnis. 177 On 17 October 2006, in an area inhabited by
Turkmen on the highway between Toz Khurmato and Tikrit, unknown gunmen arrested
17 Turkmen officials working in Tikrit at an illegal checkpoint and questioned them about
their ethnicity. Those of Sunni identity were released while 15 Shi’ites were arrested and
their whereabouts are unknown. 178 On 22 February 2006, ten Sunni Arab detainees accused
of terrorism, both Iraqis and foreigners, were extra-judicially executed by gunmen in
a detention facility inside Basrah’s port. 179
A more recent phenomenon is mass kidnappings of members of either sect. For example,
on 14 November 2006, gunmen wearing police uniforms kidnapped up to 150 employees
and visitors from the Ministry of Higher Education in Baghdad. Nine persons, all Shi’ites,
were released shortly, while the others were reportedly brought to Sadr City. Seventy were
released bearing signs of torture, while the whereabouts of another 70 persons, mostly
Sunnis, are unknown to date. 180 In another incident, on 14 December 2006, gunmen in
police uniforms kidnapped some 50 merchants, workers and customers from the Sinak
wholesale market, near the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense. Some 29 were
subsequently released, all of Shi’ite origin. 181
In October 2006, open warfare between Shi’ite militias and armed Sunni groups broke out
in Tigris river towns north of Baghdad in the Governorate of Salah Al-Din. The sectarian
killings exploded after suspected Sunni insurgents kidnapped and beheaded 17 Shi’ite
labourers from the predominantly Sunni area of Duluiyah, across the river from Shi’adominated
Balad. In retaliation, Shi’ite militias forced out Sunni families, set their houses
on fire and reportedly killed up to 90 Sunni men from Duluiyah and neighbouring Sunni
towns. According to a physician at Balad’s hospital, almost all had been shot and some had
been tortured with electric drills. Sunni families fleeing Balad described Shi’ite militias
going door-to-door, giving people two hours to leave. 182 Reportedly, two Iraqi police
officers were detained for collaborating in the killings with the militias. 183 The incident
2005, http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/sectarian/2005/1120towns.htm; Tavernise, see above
footnote 157.
176
Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), Hussein Ali, Baghdad Paper Sellers Risk Wrath of
Militants, Iraqi Crisis Report No. 190, 17 August 2006, http://iwpr.net/?p=icr&s=f&o=323109&apc_state=
heniicr200608.
177
Phillip Robertson, City of vengeance, Salon, 12 July 2006, http://www.salon.com/news/feature/
2006/07/12/baghdad/; BBC News, Dozens Killed in Baghdad Attacks, 9 July 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
middle_east/5162510.stm.
178
UNAMI HRO, October 2006 Human Rights Report, p. 8, see above footnote 66.
179
UNAMI HRO, February 2006 Human Rights Report, p. 2, see above footnote 165.
180
Ibidem, December 2006 Human Rights Report, p. 10, see above footnote 10.
181
Ibid.
182
IRIN, Iraq: No end to violence in Saddam’s home province, 24 January 2007, http://www.irinnews.org/
report.aspx?reportid=64549; Ellen Knickmeyer and Muhanned Saif Aldin, Families Flee Iraqi River Towns
On 4th Day of Sectarian Warfare, The Washington Post, 16 October 2006, http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/16/AR2006101600485.html.
183
UNAMI HRO, October 2006 Human Rights Report, p. 8, see above footnote 66.
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