 BAGHDAD - A former general in Saddam Husseinâs army and his son were found shot dead in Baghdad after being detained by police commandos, an interior ministry official told AFP Saturday, raising new question marks over the discipline of the elite force.
| Who says the RAB doesn't get around? |
Akram Ahmed Rasul Al Bayati, a major general in the old regimeâs disbanded military, was arrested at his east Baghdad home last Sunday along with two of his sons â Ali, a policeman, and Omar, the official said. Omar was later released and one of his uncleâs offered to pay 7,000 dollars for the release of the other two. The money was handed over Friday afternoon, said the official, asking not to be identified.
Later in the evening, the uncle went to the Talaba district where his brother and nephew were to be released.
The general and his son, along with a third unidentified man, arrived in a civilian car, were taken out onto the street and shot dead, the official said.
| Three. But he wasn't pronounced at the local trauma center, nor did Dr. Quincy inspect the remains. |
There was no immediate word of any official investigation into the incident, one of a growing number that raise suspicions of serious misconduct by the interior ministry force. Made up of former special forces from Saddamâs military, the 12,000-strong commandos have been deployed in Sunni Arab insurgent bastions like Ramadi and Mosul and are lionised in a nightly show on state television called âTerrorists in the Grip of Justiceâ that shows confessions extracted from detainees.
But a commando unit deployed to the central city of Samarra was pulled out in April after what US officers said were repeated incidents of looting, culminating in the torching of a home. And a spate of executions of civilians in recent weeks has sparked new accusations against the force.
| Sounds like they need some command control and guidance. |
Hussein Ali Kamal, deputy minister for intelligence at the interior ministry, told AFP earlier this week it was not known who was responsible for the killings.
| "I know nothing! Tell them, Hogan!" |
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