3 Sunnis Promoting Vote Slain in Iraq
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 19, 2005
Filed at 6:50 p.m. ET
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Masked gunmen killed three Sunni Arabs in front of horrified witnesses outside a mosque in Mosul on Friday, after grabbing them as they hung posters urging fellow Sunnis to vote in a referendum on the new constitution....
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The three members of Iraq's largest Sunni Arab political group, the Iraqi Islamic Party, were seized in a Mosul neighborhood where they were promoting voter registration for the Oct. 15 referendum on the new constitution, said party official Nouredine al-Hayali.
They were driven to another neighborhood, shoved against a wall near the Dhi al-Nourein mosque and shot dead while more masked gunmen blocked off a major street, witnesses said. The gunmen then fled in three cars, leaving the bodies behind.
It was the second armed attack in as many days against Sunni Arabs participating in the U.S.-backed political process, despite threats from insurgents and al-Qaida's wing in Iraq.
On Thursday, masked gunmen burst into the Sunni grand mosque in Ramadi, 135 miles south of Mosul, as religious, political, and tribal leaders were discussing the constitutional process. The gunmen demanded the meeting end and then opened fire, said Omar Seri, secretary of the governor of Anbar province....
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq.html