U.S. Frees 42 Al-Qaeda Kidnap Victims In Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. forces have freed 42 Iraqi citizens who were kidnapped, held by al Qaeda in Iraq for as long as four months and possibly tortured, a U.S. military spokesman said Sunday.
U.S. forces received a tip on where the hostages were held, said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver.
"There was some evidence of torture," he said.
Garver said he believed the kidnappings were part of al Qaeda's "fear and intimidation" campaign against Iraqi civilians.
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Some detainees had broken bones and are being treated for their injuries, he said.
"Some had stated that they had been hung from the ceiling," he said.
The overnight raid took place in Iraq's Diyala province, north of Baghdad, Garver said.
The military spokesman said tips that come from Iraqi citizens, including the one that led to the Diyala raid, are a sign of the growing trust with the U.S. military.
But not all the leads pan out, he said.
"In this instance we got very lucky," Garver said.
According to the U.S. military, disenchantment with al Qaeda is also evident in Iraq's predominantly Sunni Anbar province, where coalition forces recently freed 17 kidnapped Iraqis who were found in two separate torture rooms.
U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said last week that one of those freed was a 13-year-old boy, who "literally had been tortured, electrocuted, whipped, beat by these al Qaeda terrorists."
He said freed people told troops that one or two captives had died during the torture sessions, and the remaining captives expected to be ransomed off to their families, with the money going to support the al Qaeda insurgency.
I thought there wasn't al-Qaeda or foreign terrorists in Iraq (except for our troops-Rosie). They need to stop linking Iraq and al-Qaeda together or their liberal handlers will jerk the leash.
