Groom's brief joy ends as another Iraqi tragedy

BAGHDAD, May 27 (Reuters) An Iraqi groom celebrating on the dance floor was dragged off and later found beheaded in a field after uninvited guests showed up at his wedding.

Gunmen took 26-year-old merchant Khudair al-Tamimi away along with his father, uncle, cousin and a guest at the party on Thursday in Muqdadiya, 90 km northeast of Baghdad.

Their bodies were discovered yesterday, beheaded and dumped in farmlands just north of the town, police said.

A raging insurgency and rising sectarian bloodshed can turn the joys of life in other countries into tragedies in Iraq, where the range of victims has been growing since a US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Large groups of Shi'ites like the ones at the wedding celebrations in Muqdadiya are especially vulnerable to a campaign of bombings and shootings that Iraqi and US officials say are part of an al Qaeda bid to spark civil war with Sunnis.

REUTERS DKS BD1005