Sixteen
US troops from the 57th Unit of the Airborne Division have committed
suicide inside a military base in Iraq, security sources say.
Iraqi
security sources have revealed that 21 US troops had committed suicide
inside a former Iraqi air force base 27 days ago, Fars News Agency
reported on Monday.
According to the sources, the 21 troops were treated in a hospital
but only five soldiers have survived and they are in a critical
condition. Security officials said they used potent narcotics to kill
themselves.
The troops’ motivations for suicide are not known but according to
Iraqi sources the servicemen belonged to the 57th Unit of the US
Airborne Division that was behind the massacre of several Iraqi
families– mostly women and children– in northern Baghdad, said Ali
al-Baghdadi an Iraqi security official.
The suicides took place in the soldiers’ dormitory after the dinner time.
“The bodies of the US troops became misshapen such a way that they looked like 5000-year mummies,” said a witness.
According to Iraqi officials’ estimates, some 600 US troops,
including senior officers, have committed suicide in Iraq since the
invasion of the country in 2003. Half of the suicide attempts have been
successful. >>>
