Gunmen kill 25 in Iraqi village

April 5, 2010Iraqi police officials stated on Saturday that gunmen wearing military uniforms have killed 25 people, including five women, in a Friday night attack on a Sunni village named Sufia, 15 miles south of Baghdad. All those killed were members of the Jubur tribe, which was among the last supporters of Al-Qaeda to ally with U.S. forces, only doing so in late 2007.

Baghdad's security spokesman, Major General Qassim al-Moussawi has stated that "At least seven people were found alive, bound with handcuffs." In the hours after Friday night's shootings, Iraqi officials arrested 17 suspects in the incident and cordoned off the area to search for more.

Most of the victims in the attack were local members of the Sons of Iraq, a group which helped U.S. and Iraqi forces since 2006 to suppress insurgent activity. They were found handcuffed with broken arms or legs, and with gun wounds in either the chest or the head. This marks part of the large amount of dead last month, 367, which is the fourth month where the amount dead by insurgent attacks has been higher than in mid-war.