Sunnis Form Alliance, 12 Iraq Forces Killed

Iraq’s Sunnis yesterday formed a nationwide alliance of tribal, political and religious groups which will open its first office in Baghdad with branches later in other cities. The Sunni Endowment. a charitable organization was one of three main Sunni groups to back the formation of the new organization. The others were the influential Association of Muslim Scholars and the Iraqi Islamic Party.

“We condemn raids and detention done under the cover of the law against imams and mosques. We demand an independent committee be formed to verify if detainees were killed or tortured and demand the resignation of the interior minister,” the Sunnis said in a statement announcing the formation of their organization.

Meanwhile, members of an elite Interior Ministry force known as the Wolf Brigade, which at least one Sunni leader has implicated in sectarian killings, were killed in towns north of Baghdad on Saturday, in retaliation attacks. Six commandos were killed in bomb and rocket attacks in Samarra, 125km north of the capital. In Baiji, further north, six other commandos were shot dead in intense fighting that broke out in the key oil refinery town's industrial zone.