BAGHDAD – Eight members of one Shiite family were killed south of Baghdad on Monday in the worst incident of a bloody day across Iraq that left at least 23 dead. The spate of attacks – and the fact that some of the family were beheaded – raised fears that insurgents are trying to re-ignite sectarian warfare at a time when the country is preparing for critical March elections.
The March 7 election will determine who will oversee the country as the U.S. forces go home, and whether Iraq will be able to overcome the deep sectarian divides that almost destroyed it during the height of the fighting in past years.
A “terrorist group” using guns fixed with silencers shot and beheaded eight members of a single family in the village of Wahda, a mixed Shiite-Sunni village 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of the capital, the Baghdad security command said in a statement.
Authorities provided no further details about how many were shot, how many beheaded and provided little other information about what they described as an “ugly crime.” But beheadings have been performed before by extremist Sunni insurgents.
Associated Press television video of the attack showed a blood-soaked mattress and carpet, and stuffed animals strewn across the floor.