Sunnis blame Iraq forces for deaths (68 Iraqis murdered last week)

BAGHDAD - A top Sunni religious organisation has accused Iraq's Shiite-led government security forces of killing 68 people in Baghdad over the past week, as the debate over alleged "death squads" raged on.

The Muslim Scholars Association issued a statement dated Tuesday accusing security forces of having tortured and killed 68 Iraqis who were arrested earlier this month in the southern Baghdad Al-Dura neighbourhood.

"The forces of the interior ministry commandos arrested on April 4, 68 Iraqis, including four Christians," the statement from the Muslim Scholars Organisation said, citing residents of the area as its source.

"The bodies of all these citizens were found today tortured and mutilated in a kind of atrocity of state terrorism that is without precedent in human history," the statement said.

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