IRAQ hanged three men yesterday for murder, rape and kidnapping — the first executions since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

The members of Ansar al-Sunna, an insurgent group, were killed after confessing to their crimes in a televised trial broadcast in May from al-Kut, a city in southern Iraq.

The executions were an attempt by the authorities to demonstrate to the public that they can hit back at the insurgents, whose campaign of violence has left large parts of central and western Iraq ungovernable. Yesterday, government ministers again blamed Sunni militants for starting the stampede on a bridge in Baghdad on Wednesday in which 1,000 Shia pilgrims died.

Laith Kubba, the Government’s spokesman, said that the decision to reintroduce the death penalty had not been taken lightly and that it was hoped that it would deter others from committing crimes.

He said: “This is the highest punishment against people who were killers and were executed despite protests from the international community. We are faced with a reality in Iraq where people are murdering, and what we want is a sentence which punishes the hand that kills and the person who commits the crime.”

The men were identified as Bayan Ahmad al-Jaf, 30, a Kurdish taxi driver, and two Sunni Arabs, Uday Dawoud al-Dulaimi, 25, a builder, and Taher Jassim Abbas, 44, a butcher. They were found guilty of kidnapping and murdering three policemen and abducting, raping and killing Iraqi women.

The reintroduction of the death penalty, which was banned after Saddam was ousted, has been condemned by the UN, European states and human-rights groups. Even President Talabani refused to approve the execution order, which was signed instead by Adel Abdel Mehdi, his deputy. There are thought to be about 30 Iraqi prisoners on death row.

The reintroduction of the death penalty will also have a bearing on the fate of Saddam Hussein and his senior aides, whose trial by special tribunal could start this month. If convicted of the murders of some of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis believed to have been killed during his rule, he could face the same punishment.

Ibrahim Jaafari, the Prime Minister, who has been criticised for failing to impose law and order in Iraq, said yesterday that he was determined to crack down on violence and repeated the claim that militants caused the deaths of the pilgrims on Wednesday.

“The coming period will witness a strategic development in confronting terrorism and terrorists,” Mr Jaafari said in a statement. “And we will hit hard those murderers, radicals, militants and Saddamists.”

He appeared to capture the mood of many of his fellow Shias in Baghdad who blame agents provocateurs among the pilgrims who shouted that suicide bombers were in their midst and triggered panic. Relatives of the victims visited the city’s hospitals yesterday to look for family members.

At Medical City corpses were laid out for identification. One man looking for his sister-in-law uncovered the disfigured faces one by one. Another screamed as he found his mother. Those who recovered remains buried them yesterday as Muslim law dictates. Many of the dead were taken to Najaf, the site of Shia Islam’s holiest shrine.

Funerals were also held in Sadr City, a Shia slum in Baghdad, where black flags fluttered over buildings and the streets were crowded with large tents used by Shias to receive mourners at wakes. For now the Shias are in mourning, but sadness may turn to anger if the Sunnis are blamed for the deaths. The communities are at loggerheads over the proposed constitution, which would give greater powers to the majority Shias at the expense of the Sunnis.

Fearing what some have said could lead to civil war, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the Shia spiritual leader, urged restraint. His spokesman said: “He calls on all Iraqis to have unity and close ranks, to give no chance to those who want to provoke discord.”

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