It's a Shiite town. Which means Shiite guards, Shiite police and Shiite attackers. Probably retaliation from Iran/Al Sadr due to recent pressure from the US up in Baghdad.
Thanks. Then that would mean that some of the guard posts were in on it?
I also read a longer report this morning that said all of the attackers spoke English. They had American uniforms and more American uniforms were found in the SUV that they had travelled in.
Fortunately, the authorities seem to have caught several of them alive and have them in custody, and I hope they're interrogating away even as we speak. I doubt that we'll ever hear anything more about it publicly, however.
Wrong!
The attackers came from the province of Babel according to the article. This province has a mixed population and a highly active sunni insurgency in the southern edge (bordering Karbala). Its what people call 'the triangle of death' as it involves three towns with sunni population. This area is also famous for countless abductions and beheadings, including beheadings of foreigners.
This well organized attack is clearly the work of sunni insurgency as the rag-tag army of Muqtada Al-Sadr is not up to it. Just shows who is the real evil in Iraq.