Iraqis hacked to death in Mosul

As many as 12 decapitated bodies were found strewn about the northern city of Mosul on Friday, as Iraqi commandos stormed numerous locations around the city in search of insurgents. In the capital, American and Iraqi troops raided a prominent Sunni mosque Friday, killing at least three Iraqis in an operation that appeared to be aimed at stopping sermons that incited insurgent violence. At the mosque, called Abu Hanifa, blood was splattered on the floor after what witnesses described as a chaotic raid in which Iraqi soldiers opened fire after becoming involved in a melee with enraged worshipers. On Thursday, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ayad Allawi warned that imams who incited violence would be arrested. In Mosul, American troops were not able to confirm the number of headless bodies that were being found around the city. On Friday night, an official with the Army battalion that controls the most dangerous and insurgent-ridden portions of western Mosul said the beheaded bodies had not yet been recovered because of concerns they might be booby-trapped to trigger explosions. Some of the bodies are thought to have been Iraqi soldiers killed for collaborating with Americans. A 35-year-old businessman, Senan Shukri, said he had seen the killing of two Iraqi soldiers who were surrounded in a public square in Mosul and decapitated by insurgents who warned that anyone attempting to remove the bodies would be treated similarly. [more]