On Oct. 23, Iraqi authorities found 49 dead Iraqi soldiers, including three civilian drivers, near the Iraq/Iran border. The bodies were found on an isolated road just southeast of Baghdad in a segment of the country under control by Polish forces.
The soldiers had been ambushed overnight and killed “execution style,” as Col. Jassem Mohammed Alaiw, commander of the Iraqi National Guard, said. The soldiers were a group from the 16th Iraqi Army Battalion, Seventh Iraqi Army Brigade.
Qaeda of Jihad, an Islamic Fundamentalist group headed by notorious terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has claimed responsibility for the attacks. The group used to be called Unification and Jihad, but changed its name after a recent pledge of loyalty to Osama Bin Laden, CNN.com reports.
The New York Times reported Oct. 27 that an anonymous American military official claimed that officers in his division were shocked at how unequipped the Iraqi soldiers were.
The Iraqi soldiers, held in three minibuses, were all unarmed, as they were heading south on leave.
This lack of protection rendered them relatively helpless against the ambushers, who, disguised as policemen at a fake checkpoint, made each soldier lie down, then proceeded to shoot each one in the head. The three civilian drivers were also killed.
Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi blamed the massacre on the U.S.-led military. “I think there was major negligence by the multinational forces,” said Allawi. This marked the first time that Allawi has made a public statement criticizing American led forces in Iraq.
The New York Times also reported that the American Military defended itself in a statement released on Oct. 26. “This was a cold-blooded and systematic massacre by terrorists, they and no one else must be held fully accountable for these heinous acts,” the statement reads.
A new study done by Johns Hopkins University shows that between 10,000 and 30,000 Iraqi civilians have died as a direct result of the war. More statistics from the study show that as many as 100,000 Iraqi civilians have died in the months since the war has started.
More violence followed on Oct. 26, as another militant group known as the Army of Ansar al-Sunna posted photos on the internet of 11 Iraqi security officers it claimed to have captured. CNN reports that the group, calling the officers “infidels of the crusader’s militia,” claims to have captured the officers on a road in between Baghdad and a town called Hilla.
Even more violence took place on Oct. 30 in Falluja, when a suicide car bomber killed eight Marines and injured 10 others, in what was the single deadliest attack on U.S. forces in the past six months.
The attack led to retaliation through air strikes and more clashing with insurgent militants on the southeastern part of the city. The U.S. military has not been able to secure Falluja from the insurgents since it entered Iraq 18 months ago. This has caused Allawi to consider allowing major military confrontation on the town.
CNN reported a statement made by Allawi, in which he said, “We have now entered the final phase of attempts to solve Falluja without a major military confrontation. I hope we can achieve this, but if we cannot, I have no choice but to secure a military solution. I will do so with a heavy heart, for even with the most careful plan, there will be some loss of innocent lives.”
On Oct. 30, Japanese officials confirmed that the headless body of a Japanese citizen beheaded in Iraq was that of Shosei Koda. The body was found in Baghdad with the head lying next to it. Al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for the beheading, and is the suspected mastermind of many of the other beheadings that have taken place in Iraq in past months.z