“Hostage Slaughterhouses” Found in Fallujah

“Hostage slaughterhouses” found in Fallujah (MSNBC)

Iraqi troops have found “hostage slaughterhouses” in Fallujah where foreign captives were held and killed, the commander of Iraqi forces in the city said Wednesday. Troops found CDs and records of people taken captive in houses in the northern part of Fallujah, Maj. Gen. Abdul Qader Mohammed Jassem Mohan told reporters.

The most notorious abductions in Iraq have been by the al-Qaida-linked group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Al-Zarqaqi was believed to have been in Fallujah, but commanders now say he likely fled the city before the huge offensive launched this week by U.S. and Iraqi forces. Mohan did not say whether remains of captives were found and did not comment on whether the houses were believed linked to al-Zarqawi or any of several other militant groups that have claimed kidnappings. “We have found hostage slaughterhouses in Fallujah that were used by these people and the black clothing that they used to wear to identify themselves, hundreds of CDs and whole records with names of hostages,” the general said at a military camp near Fallujah.

Mohan was unsure if the hostage records included the names of any of the at least nine foreigners still in the hands of kidnappers – most notably, British aid worker Margaret Hassan, French journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot and two Americans. “I did not look closely” at the documents, he said.

It would be nicer to find Zarqawi and the other perpetrators.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.