Shootings caught on camera

A BRAZEN attack in the heart of Baghdad with rebels executing election workers in cold blood was a chilling reminder of the deteriorating security situation in the capital ahead of parliamentary elections on January 30.

A series of pictures taken by an AP photographer show three pistol-wielding gunmen, who had earlier stopped a car carrying the election officials and dragged them into the middle of Haifa Street amid the morning traffic, brandishing their weapons over the victims.

The busy, traffic-clogged street has been the scene of almost daily gunfights between the insurgents and US troops and the forces of the US-installed interim government.

In the 1970s and ‘80s, Saddam Hussein’s regime tore down traditional dwellings that lined the thoroughfare and built apartment blocks for its Baath Party supporters.

Iraq’s Independent Electoral Commission said in a statement that about 30 militants hurling hand grenades and firing machine guns attacked a car carrying five of its employees as they were driving to work.

Three employees, identified by the commission as Hatem Ali Hadi al-Moussawi, a lawyer deputy director for the commission’s Karkh office, and two of his office employees - Mahdi Sbeih and Samy Moussa, were dragged from their cars and shot dead, while two escaped unhurt.

In the dramatic photo sequence one of the captives is shown lying flat on the pavement, while the other one seems to be kneeling as the armed men approach, casually carrying their handguns or aiming them at the men.

Both of the victims wore the traditional Arab khafiyehs headscarfs. In contrast, the attackers were bareheaded and apparently unafraid to show their faces.