BAGHDAD
A local dignitary in Iraq's violence-wracked city of Ramadi said Tuesday he presided over the burial of 26 unidentified corpses of civilians and soldiers amid ongoing clashes between tribesmen and security forces.
Sheikh Gamal Heiti told Anadolu Agency that he supervised the burial of the 26 bodies in a central Ramadi cemetery on Tuesday after obtaining a legal permit from authorities.
"The bodies were photographed and their tombstones numbered and dated in hopes they will be identified later," Heiti told AA.
Neither the Iraqi army nor the Health Ministry has commented on the alleged burial.
The Iraqi army had announced last December it had embarked on a wide-scale operation to hunt down Al-Qaeda-affiliated militants in the Sunni-dominated Anbar province's two main cities – the capital Ramadi and Fallujah.
However, local Sunni tribes opposed to the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki voice anger over continued civilian causalities and have vowed to resist government troops deployed to the area.
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