A Note on Sectarian Killing in Iraq

The Washington Post had this short notice on killings in Baghdad in a story on Iraq yesterday.

Gunmen dressed in police uniforms staged a well-coordinated kidnapping at Iraq's Finance Ministry and abducted five Britons. Two vehicle bombings in Baghdad killed at least 44 people and injured 74. And the bodies of 32 men -- all shot and tortured, some handcuffed and blindfolded -- were found in two locations north and south of the capital on Tuesday, a senior Iraqi security official said.

In government statistics on deaths in Iraq, the 44 people who were killed in the bombings are considered "insurgent attacks" while the 32 bodies dumped around Baghdad are listed as "sectarian killings." Before the beginning of the surge in February, there was some justification for this distinction because a higher percentage of Sunni insurgent killings were directed at government officials, police stations, and the Iraqi army. Thus, they could be legitimately listed as insurgent attacks against the Iraqi government. Since February however, it seems that more and more insurgent attacks have been car bombs directed against the Shiite civilian population. As a result, the "insurgent attacks" have become sectarian killing as well.