Dismembered Bodies of Iraq tae kwondo squad found in desert
Pastor Dale Morgan
Saturday June 16, 11:00 PM Reuters
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Dismembered Bodies of Iraq tae kwondo squad found in desert*
By Wissam Mohammed
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The decomposed and dismembered bodies of at least 13
martial arts experts have been found more than a year after they were
kidnapped in an al Qaeda stronghold west of Baghdad, local officials and
family members said on Saturday.
The bodies were found on Thursday in a ditch in the desert about 100 km
(60 miles) west of Ramadi in Anbar province, one of Iraq's most violent
areas and where al Qaeda and Sunni Arab insurgents are battling U.S. and
Iraqi forces.
All appeared to have been chopped up, hospital officials said.
Weeping relatives gathered at Imam Ali Hospital in Baghdad's Shi'ite
slum of Sadr city to identify the bodies of the tae kwondo experts.
Reuters television footage showed a jumble of skulls, some with tufts of
black hair, and other bones in a large white bag. Family members sifted
through a collection of dirty t-shirts, pants and sandals in a hospital
hallway.
"These young players lifted the name of Iraq ... these innocents were
killed without any reason and they are martyrs," said 60-year-old Juad
Muhawi, the father of one of the victims.
The 15 were kidnapped in May 2006 as they were travelling by bus through
the Anbar desert on their way to Jordan to attend a training course.
Qasim al-Mudalal, the director of Imam Ali Hospital, told Reuters that
partial remains which may be those of the remaining two squad members
were also recovered.
The Iraqi government had tried to secure their release but no word had
been heard of them until Thursday's grisly find.
BLACK ARM BANDS
"They were killed about the same time they were taken. They were killed
and left in the desert," said Hameed al-Hai'es, head of a Sunni Arab
group that has been fighting al Qaeda in Anbar.
He said family members had been able to identify them by the clothes
they were wearing. An identity card was also found on one body belonging
to 26-year-old squad member Haidar Jabbar.
Hundreds gathered in Sadr City on Saturday for a funeral procession for
the athletes. Mourners held aloft their wooden coffins, which were
draped in Iraqi flags and flowers, and large photographs of the dead.
They will be buried in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf.
Bashar Mustafa, head of Iraq's Olympic Committee, declared three days of
mourning and ordered Iraq's national soccer team to wear black armbands
before its match against Iran in Amman later on Saturday.
Hai'es said members of the Anbar Salvation Council, a group of local
Sunnis who have been fighting al Qaeda in the province, found the bodies
after an al Qaeda captive told them where the tae kwondo team members
had been killed.
Thousands of Iraqis have been kidnapped for ransom or political gain
during Iraq's sectarian conflict between majority Shi'ites and Sunni Arabs.
Athletes are frequently targeted, often by Islamist militants who regard
sport as contrary to Islamic values.
In July 2006, then Iraqi Olympic Committee chief Ahmed al-Hadjiya and
about 30 other sports officials were kidnapped from a Baghdad hall. Most
have never been found.