Google News - SUNNI families fleeing revenge killings in a Tigris town north of Baghdad described Tuesday how black-clad Shiite militias went door to door hunting for them and said they saw bodies dumped on streets.
The violence, which has left more than 60 people killed in the Shiite town of Balad in the last four days, was an apparent retaliation for the slaying of 19 Shiite labourers, whose bodies were found on Friday with their throats cut in an orchard in nearby Dhuluiya, a mostly Sunni town across the Tigris River.
Iraq is gripped by sectarian bloodshed between Muslim Shiites and Sunnis, and the rampage in Balad, 80km north of Baghdad, is an example of the huge challenges Prime Nuri al-Maliki is facing in containing the threat of civil war.
US troops, who have a large base near Balad, are helping Iraqi troops to enforce a curfew and patrol the town, the US military said. Residents said Balad remained tense today after mortar rounds slammed into homes in the last two days, killing four people, local hospital sources said.
"Fifteen black-clad gunmen came on Sunday night and told me: 'You are a Sunni from the al-Dulaimi tribe. You have to leave before the morning.' The next day I fled with my family and my four brothers along with their families," Ali Hussein, a merchant, 40, said in Dhuluiya.
"They did not allow us to take anything but hand baggage and they forced us to leave our cars, so we walked for 8km until we reached Dhuluiya. Thank God they let me live," he said.
Ahmed Abdullah, a Sunni, said he saw bodies on the streets.
"Killings are taking place on the roads. There are gunmen deployed in the streets of the city and riding cars. I saw that on Monday," he said, speaking on the phone from Balad.
Amir Abdul Hadi, the mayor of Balad, said Mehdi Army militias loyal to pro-government Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr took part in what he described as a "popular reaction" to the killing of the labourers.
"There are popular armed groups to defend the districts.
Mehdi army already exists in the town and they participated in defending the town against the criminals," he said.
"What happened is a reaction for the killing of the labourers. We all became Mehdi Army in defending our city."
He called on Sunni families who have fled Balad to return.
Mr Maliki, a Shiite, has pledged several times to rein in powerful militias since he took office four months ago. But disbanding them is delicate because they are tied to political parties in his coalition. They are also infiltrated in the police, which Mr Maliki has vowed to revamp.
Sadr, the head of the Mehdi army and a growing political force in post-war Iraq, has loyalists in Mr Maliki's cabinet.
Moving against Sadr, who has waged two insurgencies against US forces, could alienate Mr Maliki, who faces growing pressure from Washington to ease violence.
The US military said in a statement that more than 60 Iraqis were killed as a result of sectarian violence in Balad in the last four days, including 19 Shiites workers kidnapped and killed in Dhuluiya.
"We continue to conduct our normal patrols in the city and provide support for Iraqi Security Forces as they lead operations in stopping the sectarian violence in Balad," Lieutenant Colonel Jeffery Martindale, from the 4th Infantry Division, said in a statement.
Lt-Col Martindale said US-led troops detained two Iraqi police allegedly involved in the killing of the labourers.
Qasim al-Qaisi, director of Balad hospital, said 49 bodies had been brought to his hospital since Friday, including those of the Shiite labourers and locals killed by mortars.