US Troops Free 42 Iraqis Held by al Qaeda

Via the AP: U.S. frees 42 Iraqi captives in raid

American forces freed 42 kidnapped Iraqis — some of whom had been hung from ceilings and tortured for months — in a raid Sunday on an al-Qaida hideout north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

[…]

Some of the men suffered broken bones. Some had been captive for as long as four months. One said he was just 14 years old, Caldwell said.

The 42 freed Iraqis marked the largest number of captives ever found in a single al-Qaida prison, he said.

According to the report, the captives were from the Diyala province–a Sunni dominated area where it has been reported that local militants had turned against al Qaeda operatives. The US military spokesman indicated that these captives are evidences of that conflict, although specific information to confirm that claim was not included in the report.

Aside from the bits of info quoted above, there was no indication of who the captives were or why they might have been kidnapped.

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Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter