Eight bodies found near Baghdad

2005-05-09 14:20

Mahmudiyah, Iraq - The bodies of eight Iraqi civilians, tortured and then executed with a bullet to the back of the neck, were found on Monday on the southern outskirts of Baghdad, the Iraqi army and medics said.

"The bodies were found at 06:00 in wasteland north of Yussufiah (40 kilometres south of Baghdad) and taken to Mahmudiyah hospital," army Captain Ahmed Hussein told AFP.

"They are believed to be from Sadr City," a Shiite district of northern Baghdad, according to the officer who suggested they were killed two days ago.

Relatives of the victims, believed to be from the same family, said they were missing since Friday when they went to visit relatives in southern Baghdad.

The victims were found wearing army uniforms, Captain Hussein said, adding that the killers apparently wanted people to believe they had executed soldiers.

On Friday, the bodies of 14 Sunni farmers from a community south of Baghdad were recovered on the outskirts of Sadr City. They too had been tortured and shot in the back of the head.

Sunni associations said the farmers were kidnapped by men disguised as policemen. And they warned against extremist attempts to start a sectarian war between Iraq's majority Shiites and the minority Sunnis.

- AFP