Mosul victim beheaded at roadside (mercenary)

[leftchick]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1376565,00.html

Snip-

One of the victims tried to run to safety but was caught by the insurgents and beheaded by the side of the road, witnesses said. Two of the dead men appeared to be westerners.

The killings suggest that the insurgency is starting once again to target foreigners in Iraq after a lull of several weeks. Militants claimed on Thursday they had killed an Italian aid worker near the western town of Ramadi. The attack yesterday happened at an intersection in central Mosul, Iraq's third largest city. Gunmen fired on a white Chevrolet saloon car as it passed by and then set it on fire, witnesses said.

A photographer working for Reuters who was at the scene said three of the dead appeared to be foreigners, one Turkish and the other two western. The fourth man, apparently the driver, was an Arab.

Witnesses said the men were carrying small automatic weapons, suggesting they were either contractors or bodyguards for businessmen. Despite the obvious dangers, as many as 40,000 foreigners are still working in Iraq, mostly in private security firms operating alongside the US military. The British government has advised against all travel to Baghdad and the five surrounding provinces. Images from the scene yesterday showed the men, aged in their 20s or 30s, lying dead on the road yards from the burning car.




another link...

http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?template=Newiraq&slug=Gunmen+kill+4+in+Mosul&id=65347&callid=1

Saturday, December 18, 2004 (Mosul):

Gunmen in Iraq killed four occupants of a car in Mosul on Friday. Eyewitnesses claimed three of the victims were foreigners.

The attack happened at the Yarmouk traffic intersection in Iraq's third-largest city, 360 kilometres (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

The bodies of the four victims, including one whose head was almost severed, were seen lying on the road alongside their burning car. One of the bodies was on fire.

An Iraqi police official said police received reports that three foreigners and their Iraqi driver had been killed. The nationalities of the victims was not immediately clear.

... Coming next? Fallujah revenge of merc killers part II this time in Mosul?? I am envisioning an old movie I am tired of seeing.

[bemildred]

1. They seem to have been "turkish embassy guards".

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=a0Xl5eLTHfVw&refer=top_world_news

[leftchick]

2. I just edited...

more information from the Guardian link. One was a Turk for sure. Holy shit! I can't imagine how bad it will get if the military tries to avenge these like in Fallujah. You would like to think they would know better, but alas... :(

[bemildred]

3. Mosul is MUCH bigger than Fallujah.

And we have grabbed the tarbaby in Fallujah as it is.

[leftchick]

5. 3 million in Mosul?

that is one tough "back to break"! :eyes:

[Flagg]

11. Unless you're into genocide and stuff.

[LynnTheDem]

10. They weren't AMERICAN mercs. Americans only care about dead Americans.

Americans as in all rightwingnuts and most DINOs.

REAL Americans care about ALL PEOPLE. PERIOD.

Unfortunately there aren't any REAL Americans in charge at this time.

[leftchick]

12. Two were westerners...

The link has not identified where they were from but said two were "westerners" one was a Turk and the interpreter an Arab.

[LynnTheDem]

13. "westerner" could mean French

Or Canadian. Or British.

Unless they're AMERICAN "westerners", the rightwingnuts won't give a damn.

Anyone not a white christian republican American is untermenschen.

[leftchick]

14. I understand that...

my point was we don't know if they were American or French. I suspect we will never know, now that they have pretty much kept 'contractor' death statistics unavailable. I was not trying to be difficult.

[LynnTheDem]

15. I didn't think you were trying to be difficult :)

I'm just saying unless and until they're labelled AMERICAN CONTRACTORS most Americans won't give a shit.

Notice too how everyone else is a "mercenary" except when they're American mercs? Then they're "contractors".

And America wonders why they hate us... :eyes:

[marew]

16. You are so right! n/t

[leftchick]

4. More and photo... yuck!

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_18-12-2004_pg1_8

3 Westerners killed in Mosul

MOSUL: Insurgents attacked a car carrying at least three Westerners in Mosul on Friday, killing them and their Iraqi driver and cutting off the head of one of the victims, local witnesses said. The white, American-made sedan was attacked while driving through western Mosul and set on fire, the witnesses said. A photographer for Reuters saw three bodies lying on the street close to the blazing vehicle, all apparently Westerners. One of them had been beheaded. A fourth person, apparently an Arab, could be seen lying near the burning wreckage, his body partly consumed by flames. The US military was not immediately reachable for comment on the attack



ATTENTION EDITORS - VISUALS COVERAGE SCENES OF DEATH AND INJURY An Iraqi boy looks at the bodies of four men laying next to their burning car after they were attacked by gunmen in the northern Iraq (news - web sites) city of Mosul December 17, 2004. Insurgents attacked a car carrying at least three Westerners in the northern Iraq city of Mosul on Friday, killing them and their Iraqi driver, and chopping off the head of one victim, local witnesses said. REUTERS/Namir Noor-Eldeen



ATTENTION EDITORS - VISUALS COVERAGE SCENES OF DEATH AND INJURY Onlookers view the body of a local driver laying next to his burning vehicle, one of four men killed after they were attacked by gunmen in the northern Iraq (news - web sites) city of Mosul, December 17, 2004. Three of the four men were said to be westerners by witnesses on the scene, One of the western men was beheaded near the scene of the attack. REUTERS/Namir Noor-Eldeen

[NNN0LHI]

6. "insurgency is starting once again to target foreigners in Iraq"

Must be running out of Iraqis willing to collaborate?

Don

[leftchick]

8. they never stopped killing foreigners...

hundreds of mercenaries have been killed. They just don't report them.

[frankieT]

9. you're totally right -eom-

[leftchick]

7. Fallujah Part II...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/12/17/uiraq.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/12/17/ixportaltop.html

<snip>
The identities and nationalities of the victims have not been confirmed and the US military has yet to comment on the killings, which follow spiralling violence in Mosul.

The attack mirrors an ambush earlier this year in which the burning bodies of four American civilian contractors were dragged through Fallujah, west of Baghdad, and hung from a bridge.

The killings sparked a major US offensive on the city in which hundreds of Iraqis were reportedly killed.

The latest wave of violence in Mosul began last month as the US launched a second offensive on Fallujah, apparently pushing many rebels into northern Iraq.

[0007]

17. Warning graphic photos of Fallujah and its citizens

http://www.fallujahinpictures.com/