Perspective: Diyala province -- center of sectarian conflict

Some of the 12 bodies found yesterday in Baqouba in Diyala province.

BAQUBA, Iraq (AFP) - One night last month in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, Sunni militants surrounded a remote farmstead housing Shiite families, dragged out the 27 men and shot them dead in a nearby field.

Meanwhile, in the market towns of the restive region, the overwhelmingly Shiite police force routinely tortures Sunni suspects, according to a civilian US lawyer who recently visited local prisons and courts.

"I was told about a guy nicknamed 'Cable Ali' because he tortured and hit guys with a cable," the lawyer told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"So I asked the police, 'Does this guy exist?' and they said 'Yes he does, but he only tortures the guilty ones,'" he said.

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