An al-Qaida-affiliated group said Saturday it killed 18 kidnapped government security forces in retaliation for the alleged rape of a Sunni woman by members of the Shiite-dominated police, posting an online video of the officers being shot in the back of their heads while kneeling in a field.

This picture posted on a Web Site on Friday, March 2, 2007, claims to shows gunmen guarding blindfolded men, some wearing Iraqi military uniforms, at an undisclosed time and location in Iraq. An al-Qaida-linked Sunni group claimed Friday that it had kidnapped 18 government workers and soldiers in retaliation for the alleged rape of a Sunni woman by members of the Shiite-dominated police force. Hours later, the govt. said the bodies of 14 security officers had been found. The Islamic State of Iraq, a Sunni group linked to al-Qaida, posted a statement on the Internet earlier Friday saying 18 men were kidnapped in retaliation for the alleged rape along with nine pictures showing up to 18 men. [AP]

The authenticity of the three-minute video, posted on a Web site previously used by the Islamic State of Iraq, could not be immediately verified.

In this undated image made from video, released by the Islamic State of Iraq's (ISI) al-Furqan Media and distributed Saturday, March 3, 2007 by IntelCenter, 18 blindfolded members of the Iraqi Security Forces are shot from behind by an unidentified gunman at an undisclosed location. In a statement posted on an Islamic militant Web site on Saturday, the al-Qaida-affilated Islamic State of Iraq claimed it abducted and killed two groups of Iraqi government forces in retaliation for the alleged rape of a Sunni woman by members of the Shiite-dominated police. This image was provided via the IntelCenter, which is a private contractor working for intelligence agencies. [AP]

The group also said it had killed 14 policemen, whose bodies were found Friday in the northeast province of Diyala, in retaliation for the alleged rape. Some of the victims were decapitated, according to an Associated Press photographer.

Meanwhile, gunmen rounded up two Sunni families 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 also reported airstrikes and raids on what it called Sunni militant bases linked to al-Qaida in Iraq.

A 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.

Among those targeted include a range of Sunnis raising their voices against violence: imams, clan-based vigilantes and activists trying to bridge deep rifts with majority Shiites.

The execution video released Saturday first depicts the 18 men, some in Iraqi military uniforms, blindfolded, hands tied behind their backs and lined up in three rows before a screen. The men in the front row are kneeling. Armed masked men were seen pointing machine guns at the captives.

Two masked militants, with checkered scarves on their heads, then fire from handguns at close range into the backs of the men's heads, while a third militant carries a black banner ahead of them. As they are shot, the victims fall, head forward to the ground. The shooting is accompanied by chants of "Allahu Akbar," or "God is the Greatest."

Male voices chant repeatedly in Arabic during the video: "At your service, sister" ¡ª a likely reference to the revenge for the allegedly raped Sunni woman.

Another male voice is heard reading from the Islamic State of Iraq's statement posted on the same Web site Friday, saying the group's court had ordered the 18 security troops executed because Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government had failed to meet the group's demands to hand over the officers who allegedly assaulted the Sunni woman in Baghdad last month, and to release all Sunni women detainees from Iraqi prisons.

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A 20-year-old woman told Arab television stations that she was detained in a Sunni area of west Baghdad on Feb. 18, taken to a police garrison and assaulted by three officers. The woman gave a name which identified her as Sunni.

Al-Maliki, a Shiite, announced an investigation Feb. 19 but cleared the officers the following day, stirring outrage among Sunni politicians. Al-Maliki said the rape claim was fabricated to tarnish the reputation of the police and the security crackdown in 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.

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