Usually I consider the critics of the New York Times to be excessively one sided, but in this case all the howls about the word 'executed' will be deserved.

Rebels Mount Grisly Ambush, Executing 49 Iraqi Soldiers
By EDWARD WONG

Published: October 24, 2004


AGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 24 - In the single deadliest ambush of the insurgency, guerrillas dressed as police officers executed 46 freshly trained Iraqi soldiers and three civilian drivers in remote eastern Iraq as the unarmed men were going home on leave Saturday evening, Iraqi officials said today.

If murdered is too judgemental, how about slaughtered? Even killed would be better. I have heard the phrases 'mob execution' for the Mafia or 'gang style execution' for other gangs, but there's no call for using it in this context.