IRAQ - July 9 - Gunmen Massacre Dozens In Baghdad.

Gunmen massacre dozens of people in a Sunni district of Baghdad, in what appears to be an escalation of the sectarian violence which has engulfed the country for nearly five months. Bombings and abductions are common in many parts of the city, but this was one of the first times a group of gunmen had taken control of a section of Baghdad and conducted a massacre on this scale. The interior ministry said at least 42 people had been killed in the attack in the Jihad district, a possible reprisal for the July 8 car-bombing of a nearby Shiite mosque that killed three. Iraqi security sources quoted by wire agencies said the gunmen had set up fake police checkpoints and pulled motorists from cars, or checked identity papers for Sunni names, before gunning their victims down. Residents and Sunni politicians blamed the Mahdi Army, loyal to radical Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, for the massacre, but Sadrist spokesmen denied responsibility. Sadrist sympathisers say the militia targets only known extremists who carry out attacks against the Shiite. Shiite militants have recently given signs of imitating some of the tactics of the more radical Sunni groups. Last week, presumed militiamen kidnapped a Sunni legislator, Tayseer al-Mashhadani, and sources in the Iraq Islamic Party to which she belongs say her abductors have issued demands including release of detainees and a halt to the bombing of Shiite mosques. As a result, the main Sunni coalition has boycotted parliament and says it is considering pulling its four ministers out of the cabinet, which would be a significant setback to PM Nuri al-Maliki. Iraqi security forces appear to be cracking down on the militias. The US military reported that Iraqi soldiers had raided a militant stronghold early on Sunday in the Shiite district of Kadhemiya, killing nine and capturing seven. Meanwhile, four more US soldiers were charged with rape and murder and a fifth with dereliction of duty in the alleged massacre of a family in the district of Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad, Stephanie Kirchgaessner reports from Washington.