BAGHDAD, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- An Iraqi Shiite ethnic cleansing in a Baghdad neighborhood is responsible for the recently soaring Sunni death toll, Time magazine reported Wednesday.
The forcible population transfer accompanied by severe human-rights violations included abducting and murdering the main male figures in Sunni households, leaving families unable to afford their homes and too terrified to stay in Baghdad's violent Washash neighborhood, the magazine reported.
The militias are part of rebel Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr's Mahdi Army, the magazine said, citing U.S. Army intelligence.
Among papers found in a U.S. Army raid was a list of 65 houses around Washash where Shiite families have replaced Sunni families. Other pages included drafts of threat letters intended for delivery to Sunni homes, Time said.
The papers also included a roster of "virtuous families" in the Washash area, with house numbers written next to their names, so the militia "relocation agents" could keep track of people deemed fit to stay.
