"In their latest crime against the peoples of Iraq,...

"In their latest crime against the peoples of Iraq, the dictatorial Iraqi regime has shot 96 soldiers. These soldiers were planning to desert their army units and escape to the liberated areas of Kurdistan. But they were trapped by Saddam's military intelligence and gunned down," stated the Hawlati, an independent Iraqi Kurdish newspaper. "Fifty of these soldiers belonged to army units at Jalawla and were planning to escape to liberated Kurdistan. Another group of 30 soldiers in Sa'diyah area made a move to escape but they were discovered and shot. Another group of 18 soldiers were planning to escape through Chamchamal area, but two of them changed their minds and reported the rest who were summarily executed in the morning on 26 March 2003 in front of hundreds of Kurds in the districts of Shorijah and Azadi in Kirkuk."