MILITANTS KIDNAP AND KILL 20 IRAQI SOLDIERS
and diplomats say the Shiite-led government must do more to reach out to the disaffected Sunni Arab minority to undermine support for militancy.
In the north, militants attacked a small military base, abducted 20 soldiers and later shot them dead. Their bodies were found in the area on Saturday night, according to security officers and a morgue employee.
The powerful Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadist group claimed the attack in a statement, saying it had targeted members of the “Safavid army”, a pejorative term to link Iraq's security forces with those of Iran, which was once ruled by the Safavid empire.
BAGHDAD, May 11, 2014 (AFP) - Authorities in Iraq have found the bodies of 20 soldiers shot dead after being kidnapped from a northern military base, and a string of attacks on Sunday killed 21 people.
The bloodshed comes as officials count votes from the April 30 general election amid a protracted surge in violence that has killed more than 3,200 people this year.
The bloodletting has fuelled fears that Iraq is slipping back into the all-out sectarian conflict that left tens of thousands dead in 2006 and 2007.
Authorities have been quick to blame external factors such as the civil war in neighbouring Syria for the rise in unrest.
However, analysts