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10/24/2004:

"Rebels 'Execute' 49 Iraqi Troops, Kill U.S. Diplomat"

BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) - Rebels killed 49 unarmed army recruits in one of the bloodiest attacks on Iraq's nascent security forces and, in a separate attack Sunday, killed a U.S. diplomat in a mortar strike near Baghdad airport.

The bodies of 37 recruits shot dead on a road northeast of Baghdad were found Saturday and 12 were discovered Sunday.

``They were all executed, we found them executed,'' Interior Ministry spokesman Adnan Abdul-Rahman said.

The attack was another blow to the efforts of the interim government to rebuild Iraqi security forces to tackle a raging insurgency that U.S.-led forces have failed to quell.

``We found them arranged in groups of 12 with bullets in the head,'' Iraqi National Guard officer Jassim Saadi told Reuters television in the town of Mandali, near the Iranian border, where the bodies were brought after the ambush.

The bodies, in torn and bloodstained civilian clothes, were taken in the back of trucks to a National Guard base in Mandali, where they were laid out in rows. Some bystanders wept.

The recruits, based at Kirkush, 90 km (55 miles) northeast of Baghdad, had been heading for home leave in three minibuses when they were ambushed at about 8 p.m. (1700 GMT) Saturday.

Police said insurgents disguised as police had set up a checkpoint and stopped the buses. They forced them to leave the buses and lie face down on the tarmac before shooting them.

Villagers heard the gunfire, found the bodies and called police. A dozen recruits who tried to flee were also shot. Their bodies were found Sunday. The minibuses were burned.

Full Article: Reuters