And, according to the London Telegraph, they are all Shia.
Saddam Hussein’s execution has inspired a gruesome cycle of revenge, with scores of Shia Muslims found hanged from lampposts in Baghdad.
The residents of the city’s Haifa Street will long remember the events of Sunday morning. As shop owners raised their shutters and stall holders set out their stock, three minibuses roared to a halt.
Gunmen jumped out and pulled blindfolded prisoners on to the street. Ropes were tied to lampposts and electricity poles. Those hostages who resisted were shot. Others who were still alive had nooses tied around their necks and were then suspended in mid air to choke to death.
All were left hanging, and the victims received little sympathy from those who witnessed the events.
“We watched as all these blindfolded men were hung up and some were shot in the head,” Imad Atwan, a supermarket worker said.
“Altogether there were 23 bodies. We are all Sunni people here so we supported the gunmen. Some of them are the guards of our neighbourhood.
“Somebody called the police and the guards waited to shoot at them when they arrived.
“Half an hour after the police fled, they came back with the army and took the bodies away.”
Capt Mohammad Salim, of the interior ministry, said: “We have gathered 102 Shia bodies and believe that 90 per cent of them were taken hostage for Saddam Hussein’s execution and then found hanging from poles by ropes.”
BTW, the child death toll from mock Saddam hangings now stands at seven.
Are we feeling triumphant yet?
