Second rape claim against Iraqi soldiers in week

FOUR Iraqi soldiers have been accused of raping a 50-year-old Sunni woman and the attempted rape of her two daughters in the second allegation of sexual assault levelled against Iraqi forces this week.

Brig-Gen Nijm Abdullah said the attack allegedly occurred about 10 days ago in the northern city of Tal Afar during a search for weapons and insurgents.

A lieutenant and three enlisted men denied the charge but later confessed after they were confronted by the Turkoman woman.

Mr Abdullah said a fifth soldier suspected something was wrong, burst into the house and forced the others at gunpoint to stop the assault.

“They have been referred to the judicial authorities so they can receive their just punishment,” said Mr Abdullah, who effectively serves as mayor of the city.

A tribal leader from Tal Afar, Sheik Mohammed Khalil Hanash of the Hawyat clan, said the alleged attack took place on February 8.

He said the woman told him that the lieutenant had filmed her ordeal using a mobile phone video camera, but did not take part.

A second rape allegation within a week is likely to undermine the reputation of Iraq’s security services, which the US hopes can take over from coalition troops so the Americans and their allies can go home.

The report follows an allegation on Monday by a 20-year-old Sunni woman that she had been raped by three Iraqi policemen after she was detained during a search of her house in western Baghdad.

She was taken to a police garrison where the attack allegedly occurred on Sunday before she was rescued by US soldiers, she said.