Hostages Freed by U.S. Forces in Baquba Offer Glimpse of al-Qaeda Tactics

Baquba - He wasn??t anyone rich, or important ?? he only sold used clothes for a living but they saw him smoking at the bus depot and that was enough for them to take him away.

He rolls up his pants to show me the scars inflicted during four days in captivity by suspected al-Qaeda members ?? this 24-year-old Iraqi man afraid to give his name and afraid to show his face on camera.

His legs are painfully thin from what appears to be a lifetime of near malnutrition. On his ankles, feet and hands are the raised round scars where he says his captors butted cigarettes out on his skin. He pulls up his striped cotton T-shirt to show me the same marks on his chest.

??They told me the Islamic State prohibits smoking,? he said. They were wearing masks, he said. When they checked his ID they found a Shiite name. They shoved him face-first into a car, blindfolded him and took him to the house in Baquba crowded with hostages.

The vendor was one of seven Iraqis rescued by soldiers from the 3-2 Stryker Brigade??s 5th Battalion 20th Infantry Regiment when they swept through an area of Old Baquba last week known as an al-Qaeda stronghold.

Nine others they were holding ?? including four Iraqi police ?? were shot dead just before the Americans arrived and the insurgents fled. Police officials here said two of the police who were killed at the house had been kidnapped the day before when they responded to a call that the Rafidayan bank in central Baquba was being robbed. In a grimly ironic Iraqi twist, the bank had no money in it, US military officials said.
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Psycho4Bud Reviewed by Psycho4Bud on . Al Qaeda in Iraq Hostages Freed by U.S. Forces in Baquba Offer Glimpse of al-Qaeda Tactics Baquba - He wasn??t anyone rich, or important ?? he only sold used clothes for a living but they saw him smoking at the bus depot and that was enough for them to take him away. He rolls up his pants to show me the scars inflicted during four days in captivity by suspected al-Qaeda members ?? this 24-year-old Iraqi man afraid to give his name and afraid to show his face on camera. His legs are painfully thin Rating: 5