BAGHDAD, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Rising revenge killings appear to have added another facet to the wave of violence sweeping Iraq.
U.S. military officials in Baghdad say after months of apparently random sectarian violence, the new wave of killings results from attacks and counterattacks. In this pattern, Sunni militants stage "spectacular" strikes, which are followed by Shiite militias retaliating with abductions and killings of Sunnis, reports The New York Times.
U.S. officials told the Times the militias carry out revenge attacks at funerals. Those attacks include gunmen executing blindfolded people in public view or mortar shells being lobbed between Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods.
"The problem is that every time there's a sensational event, that starts the whole sectarian cycle again," said U.S. military spokesman Army Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV. "If we could stop the cyclical nature of this in Baghdad, we could really change the dynamics here."
The Times report said as Iraqis go after against one another, the killings sometimes get as brutal as they were under Saddam Hussein's regime, posing new challenges to the U.S. military.
