Allawi blames US-led forces for massacre

Iraq's US-backed government said on Tuesday that ‘‘major neglect’’ by its American-led military allies led to a massacre...

Iraq’s US-backed government said on Tuesday that ‘‘major neglect’’ by its American-led military allies led to a massacre of 49 Army recruits at the weekend.

In one of the bloodiest attacks on Iraq’s fledgling security forces, the unarmed recruits were shot in the back of their heads after being stopped by guerrillas posing as policemen as they travelled home for leave in the northeast of the country.

‘‘There was an ugly crime in which a large group of National Guards were martyred,’’ Prime Minister Iyad Allawi told Iraq’s National Assembly.

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‘‘We believe this issue was the outcome of major neglect by some parts of the multinational (forces),’’ he said without elaborating.

A statement by the US-led multinational forces in Iraq blamed the killings on ‘‘terrorists’’. ‘‘This was a cold-blooded and systematic massacre by terrorists. They and no one else, must be held fully accountable for these heinous acts,’’ it said.

‘‘The IIG (interim government) is investigating this tragic incident. We will provide full support and cooperation to establish the facts and avoid repetition of similar events,’’ it said.

It was not clear if US-led forces were involved with or trained the Army recruits at the Kirkush base where they were stationed.

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Hours after Allawi spoke, an Iraqi militant group said it had abducted 11 members of the Iraqi National Guard and posted their pictures on its Website on Tuesday.

‘‘We captured 11 of the apostates,’’ the Army of Ansaral-Sunna said in the statement, dated October 21. The authenticity of the statement and pictures could not be immediately verified. A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said he had no information on the abductions. —Reuters