Det eksisterer ingen klar grense mellom den shia-muslimske Badr-militsen og irakisk politi. Det er ikke en gang klart hvem som kommanderer hvem. Det er i denne gråsonen at dødskommandoer opererer som likviderer sunnier. 700 er drept på fire måneder, viser en oversikt. Men den er ufullstendig.

As the American military pushes the largely Shiite Iraqi security services into a larger role in combating the insurgency, evidence has begun to mount suggesting that the Iraqi forces are carrying out executions in predominantly Sunni neighborhoods.

Hundreds of accounts of killings and abductions have emerged in recent weeks, most of them brought forward by Sunni civilians, who claim that their relatives have been taken away by Iraqi men in uniform without warrant or explanation.

Some Sunni men have been found dead in ditches and fields, with bullet holes in their temples, acid burns on their skin, and holes in their bodies apparently made by electric drills. Many have simply vanished.

Sunnis Accuse Iraqi Military of Kidnappings and Slayings