World News 25-10-2004 49 Dead In Baquba Massacre who: Alleged al-Qa`eda terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi what: Claims responsibility for massacre of soldiers where: Iraq when: Yesterday snippet: "The gang that killed 49 Iraqi soldiers northeast of Baghdad may have had inside information," says the ITV news website this morning. "Al-Qaeda Organisation for Holy War in Iraq, [formerly known as Tawhid and Jihad] led by the man who killed hostage Ken Bigley, admitted killing the Iraqi recruits in a statement on a website." "Members of his gang dressed as police to flag down four vehicles carrying the unarmed raw recruits of Iraq`s new army," says The Sun. "The victims were made to lie face down. Then most were shot in the back of the head... Thirty-seven were found in neat rows by members of the National Guard." "The massacre was the latest in a series of increasingly lethal attacks against Iraq`s security forces," writes The Guardian`s Michael Howard from Baghdad, "regarded as collaborators by insurgents, in an effort to affect troop strength and morale. Until now, they have mainly used suicide bombs, mortars and roadside devices." At home, all the papers have picked up on remarks made by former prime minister John Major on the BBC1`s Breakfast with Frost yesterday when he predicted that the public would be "very wary indeed of taking this government`s word" on military matters in future and Lord Heseltine`s more forthright accusation on ITV`s Jonathan Dimbleby programme that Mr Blair "lied about the situation in the Middle East". Meanwhile, the build-up to the deployment of Black Watch troops in support of US forces continues with the allegation in The Mirror that the L94 chain gun on the regiment`s armoured personnel carriers is the "worst automatic weapon system ever introduced into the British Army". [... more]

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