Baghdad death squads kill 60, bombs kill 22

BAGHDAD – Police recovered 60 bodies over the past day across Baghdad, most bound and tortured, officials said yesterday, highlighting how sectarian death squads are still plaguing the Iraqi capital despite a major security drive.

Two car bombs targeting police killed 22 people during the morning and wounded another 76 people. The first killed 14 outside Baghdad’s traffic police headquarters, a second targeted guards at an electricity station in the east of the city.The death of another US soldier was confirmed in Anbar province, where the commander denied suggestions his force had lost control to al Qaeda and other Sunni insurgents but said stabilising the western desert region would be a job for Iraqi politicians and their US-trained troops and police.A US soldier was also killed overnight near Baghdad.US and Iraqi leaders say that the biggest threat to Iraq no longer comes from the three-year-old revolt among ousted president Saddam Hussein’s fellow Sunni Muslims but from conflict between Sunnis and the Shi’ite majority now in power.Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was in Iran for a second day of meetings.His fellow Shi’ite Islamist leaders pledged support for Iraq and efforts to avert civil war, drawing a wary response from Washington which accused Tehran of funding militants there.An Interior Ministry official and sources at Baghdad police headquarters said a total of 60 unidentified bodies were found, freshly killed, in various parts of Baghdad over the past day.The tally was among the highest of late, despite a month-old security crackdown by reinforced US and Iraqi troops.”But we’ve had worse days,” the Interior Ministry official said.”Sometimes we sent 65 or even 100 to the morgue.”Fifteen bodies were found scattered, some in roadside garbage heaps, close to the Shi’ite militia stronghold of Sadr City in eastern Baghdad, he said.In the southern district of Saidiya, the bloodied remains of five bakers were discovered.Most of the dead were bound and shot in the head and many bore signs of torture, the official said marks of sectarian death squads and kidnap gangs.Nampa-ReutersThe first killed 14 outside Baghdad’s traffic police headquarters, a second targeted guards at an electricity station in the east of the city.The death of another US soldier was confirmed in Anbar province, where the commander denied suggestions his force had lost control to al Qaeda and other Sunni insurgents but said stabilising the western desert region would be a job for Iraqi politicians and their US-trained troops and police.A US soldier was also killed overnight near Baghdad.US and Iraqi leaders say that the biggest threat to Iraq no longer comes from the three-year-old revolt among ousted president Saddam Hussein’s fellow Sunni Muslims but from conflict between Sunnis and the Shi’ite majority now in power.Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was in Iran for a second day of meetings.His fellow Shi’ite Islamist leaders pledged support for Iraq and efforts to avert civil war, drawing a wary response from Washington which accused Tehran of funding militants there.An Interior Ministry official and sources at Baghdad police headquarters said a total of 60 unidentified bodies were found, freshly killed, in various parts of Baghdad over the past day.The tally was among the highest of late, despite a month-old security crackdown by reinforced US and Iraqi troops.”But we’ve had worse days,” the Interior Ministry official said.”Sometimes we sent 65 or even 100 to the morgue.”Fifteen bodies were found scattered, some in roadside garbage heaps, close to the Shi’ite militia stronghold of Sadr City in eastern Baghdad, he said.In the southern district of Saidiya, the bloodied remains of five bakers were discovered.Most of the dead were bound and shot in the head and many bore signs of torture, the official said marks of sectarian death squads and kidnap gangs.Nampa-Reuters