The killing of so many Iraqi soldiers -- unarmed and in civilian clothes -- in such an apparently well-executed operation reinforced American and Iraqi suspicions that the country's security services have been infiltrated by insurgents.

A claim of responsibility posted on an Islamist Web site attributed the attack to followers of Jordanian-born terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The unarmed soldiers were killed on their way home after completing a training course at the Kirkush military camp northeast of Baghdad when their buses were stopped Oct. 23 by rebels near the Iranian border about 150 km east of Baghdad, Interior Ministry spokesman Adnan Abdul-Rahman said.

The Japan Times Weekly: Oct. 30, 2004
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