Iraq Court Sentences 15 al-Qaeda Members To Death

15 members of terrorist group al-Qaeda were sentenced to death by an Iraqi court this week. The group was suspected of a 2006 wedding party massacre that killed 70 people.

The court ruled that the group had planned and carried out the attack in the Shiite town of Dujail.

The defendants were arrested in May and Iraqi TV had been airing their confessions to show that Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was protecting his country from terrorist activities. According to the defendant the massacre occurred because the groom was a Shiite and the bride a Sunni.

In what can only be described as one of the most brutal attacks in the area the group through 15 children into the Tigris River with concrete blocks around their necks, while the men were blindfolded and shot in the back of the head while their hands were tied behind their backs while the women were raped and then murdered.