*Ø* Allawi shot inmates in cold blood, say witnesses

[Posting this at Pip's request as he's having major tech problems]

Sydney Morning Herald:

"Iyad Allawi, the new Prime Minister of Iraq, pulled a pistol and executed as many as six suspected insurgents at a Baghdad police station, just days before Washington handed control of the country to his interim government, according to two people who allege they witnessed the killings.

"They say the prisoners - handcuffed and blindfolded - were lined up against a wall in a courtyard adjacent to the maximum-security cell block in which they were held at the Al-Amariyah security centre, in the city's south-western suburbs.

"They say Dr Allawi told onlookers the victims had each killed as many as 50 Iraqis and they 'deserved worse than death'.

"The Prime Minister's office has denied the entirety of the witness accounts in a written statement to the Herald, saying Dr Allawi had never visited the centre and he did not carry a gun.
 
"But the informants told the Herald that Dr Allawi shot each young man in the head as about a dozen Iraqi policemen and four Americans from the Prime Minister's personal security team watched in stunned silence." 
 
Full text 

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Lateline: Iraqi PM accused of executions

Paul McGeough tells ABC TV's Lateline about witnesses' claims to have seen the Iraqi Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, kill six prisoners.