death sentence for the indigenous people of mexico. all of that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. siege toitants laid two key cities in western iraq on thursday, liberating prisoners, occupying buildings, and setting police stations on fire. the iraqi military has pushed back with airstrikes. iraq is embroiled in a sectarian crisis fueled by the civil war in neighboring syria. the recent attacks took place in an bar province, the side of the 2007 surge of u.s. troops and an area where nearly one third of u.s. war casualties lost their lives. more than 7800 iraqi civilians died last year, returned to levels seen during the height of u.s. occupation. the united nations is warning spiraling crisis in the central african republic, also south sudan and syria.