Kurdish Merchant, Wife Murdered in Baghdad 

Arbil, Iraq Press, July 9 - A Kurdish merchant and his wife were slain in their house in the
heart of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, their relatives said.

The incident has spread terror in the Baladiyat district where the crime took place. The
killing was perpetrated in the most horrific manner. The perpetrators of the crime slit the
throat of one of the victims and mutilated the body.

The relatives said the childless couple led a prosperous and quiet life in Baghdad. The
husband was a merchant in al-Nahr street where most of Baghdad's wealthiest shoppers have
set up businesses.

They said the man's apparent wealth may have spurred the criminals to murder him and his
wife in a bid to steal the house.

Crime incidence has risen dramatically in Iraq due to wars and U.N. trade sanctions imposed
for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Since their inception three years ago, state-run weeklies
have provided wide coverage of theft, murder and burglaries.

Most the reported crime incidents were unheard of in Iraq.

But only a fraction of such incidents gets its way to the government-controlled newspapers.
The number of crimes is so huge that rarely a day passes without one being committed in a
district in Baghdad, for example.

Many crimes go unnoticed as the victims refrain from reporting them.They believe it will be
a waste of time and effort with a corruption-ridden 
police force.

Reports abound of security services and police coordinating with organized gangsters. As a
result, many families now rely on private guards.

Those with no means to pay for private protection have turned their houses into something
like an iron box with steel bars erected on entrances and windows.

Residents rarely leave their homes uninhabited for fear of theft. They usually leave someone
behind when visiting friends or leaving on vacation.
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