Growing number of Iraqis take trips to morgues

Baghdad: Heart-rending scenes are being played out in front of the Yarmouk Hospital morgue in Baghdad with monotonous regularity. Every day tens of people crowd at the hospital in search of a missing relative.

"My 23-year-old son, was taken from our house by militants in police uniform on the 6th, and he never returned. I came here looking for his body," Fakhria, one of the Iraqi women gathered in front of the hospital, told Gulf News.

Many of the bodies lying in the morgue had torture marks of varying degrees, and a single bullet wound in the head.

Civilian victims

Several officials at the Ministry of Health said that there were more than 2,600 bodies lying unclaimed at morgues in hospitals. They said these unofficial figures clearly indicate a spike in sectarian violence since the attacks on the Shiite shrine in Samarra in February.

Influential religious figures said the violence are committed by militants and henchmen of former Baath party.

"Innocent civilians belonging to both Sunni and Shiite sects are paying the price," Saleh Al Haidi, head of Shiite Fund, told Gulf News.

"The information I receive about the number of people being buried at the Shiite graveyard in Najaf is really astonishing," he said.

"The crimes are committed by followers of Abu Musab Al Zarqawi [the leader of Al Qaida in Iraq] and the former president Saddam Hussain."

Rafe Al Eisawi, who is member of both the Iraqi Islamic Party and the Sunni Accord, said the new government was grappling with the security situation.

"We do not know who is responsible for these sectarian violence. This needs more investigation," Al Eisawi told Gulf News.

Analysts expect the formation of a new government led by Noori Al Maliki to cut down on the sectarian violence since all sects are participating in the government.

However, some people charge that the Iraqi police and army and the occupation forces are responsible for sectarian killings.

Ali Al Assadi, an official of cleric Moqtada Al Sadr's group, alleged that the American forces were involved in forming "death squads", which are killing Shiites and Sunnis.

He also accused some members of the Iraqi police and army of conspiring with those who commit sectarian violence. "Otherwise, how can you explain that these actions are taking place without any intervention from police and army?"

The writer is a journalist based in Baghdad