BAGHDAD — Gunmen rounded up a Sunni family that had received death threats for joining U.S.-organized talks with local Shiites, hauling away the men and boys and killing all six Saturday as suspected insurgents expanded a campaign of fear against opponents.
U.S. forces, meanwhile, reported airstrikes and raids on what it called Sunni militant bases linked to al-Qaida in Iraq.
The recent wave of Sunni reprisals appears linked to increasingly high-profile attempts to stir popular momentum against Sunni extremists trying to drive out the Shiite-led government and its American backers.
Imams, vigilantes targeted
Among those targeted include groups of Sunnis raising their voices against violence: imams, clan-based vigilantes and activists trying to bridge deep rifts with majority Shiites.
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"We are seeing more people beginning to challenge the insurgents," said Marine Brig. Gen. John Allen, who oversees units in the militant heartland west of Baghdad.
The two families gunned down at sunrise Saturday had received death threats for weeks after attending gatherings of Sunni and Shiite leaders, police said.
For the second consecutive day, just one major explosion rocked the capital. The latest — a roadside bomb — killed three U.S. soldiers on patrol in central Baghdad, the military said.
The U.S. military said Saturday that an airstrike north of Baghdad killed several insurgents with al-Qaida in Mesopo-tamia who were firing heavy artillery and machine guns at American helicopters.
The strike occurred Friday west of Taji, where several American helicopters have been shot down in recent weeks, and the American assault destroyed at least two pickup trucks with mounted machine guns, said Lt. Col. Christopher R. Garver, a military spokesman in Baghdad.
He said the strike did not appear to eliminate the threat to U.S. aircraft because other weapons had been used against helicopters in Fallujah and other parts of the country. Military authorities were still investigating the identities of the gunmen and how many were killed as of Saturday evening.
A second airstrike destroyed a car-bomb factory on Saturday in southern Baghdad, the U.S. military said. Two precision-guided bombs destroyed a building and killed at least seven suspected insurgents who had been firing at U.S. troops in the area, a military statement said.
Garver said the announcement of two airstrikes on the same day reflected a broadened presence of U.S. air power over Iraq, with more jets in the air flying closer to U.S. troops on the ground.
The military also said an Iraqi detainee died Friday at an U.S.-run prison from "injuries sustained after being assaulted from other detainees." The detainee's death is under investigation, according to a military statement.
Four separate roadside bombings against Baghdad police patrols killed at least one officer and wounded at least eight others, an Interior Ministry official said.
In the contested neighborhood of Ghazaliya in western Baghdad, a commander of a Baghdad police brigade was also shot and killed in what appeared to be an assassination, the official said.
Top adviser is kidnapped
In western Baghdad, meanwhile, a top adviser to Iraq's Defense Ministry was kidnapped in western Baghdad, said an aide to Adnan al-Dulaimi, a leader of the largest Sunni bloc in parliament.
Lt. Gen. Thamir Sultan hails from Saddam Hussein's tribe and had been mentioned as a possible defense minister when the current government was organized last year.
U.S. warplanes also struck a suspected car bomb factory in Arab Jabour, south of Baghdad, the military said.
U.S. toll in Iraq
• Deaths: 3,160
• Wounded: 23,785
Latest identifications
No identifications reported.
Source: Department of Defense as of Friday.
