The number of bodies found in the past 24 hours dumped in various locations throuhgout Baghdad after being shot or strangled has risen to 72. The bodies, according to police sources, were discovered in both Sunni and Shiite areas of the Iraqi capital by security forces.
Major Falah Al Mohammedawi, an official at Iraq's Interior Ministry, told reporters on Tuesday that the bodies were found in some of the capital's most violent neighborhoods, according to the AP.
Some of the bodies were found in the restive Sadr City, outside of Baghdad, where almost 60 people were killed and 200 injured in attacks on Sunday.
According to reports by Reuters, 15 bodies were found in the Khudra area in western Baghdad. The bodies showed signs of torture.
Many of the bodies found in recent weeks have been of Sunni Arabs, leading some to believe that militias are running death squads in Iraq.
The practice of execution style death and the dumping of bodies has become a growing phenomenon in Iraq since the US-led invasion in the country on 2003.
Third journalist killed in one week
Also on Tuesday, Iraqi police reported that gunmen killed the editor of an Iraqi weekly outside his Baghdad home on Monday evening, bringing the number of Iraqi journalists killed in a week to three.
Muhsin Khudhair, editor of news magazine Alef Ba, had had recently returned from a meeting of Iraqi journalists before he was killed in which all sides were urged to recognize neutrality of journalists in the war-torn country, rerpoted the AP.
"Iraqi journalists now have become a target because they are the only ones who are working in the field after the withdrawal of Arab and other foreign journalists," said Shihab Al Timimi, head of the Iraqi Journalists Union.
Australian DM promises continued commitment to Iraq
Meanwhile, Australia's Defense Minister Brendan Nelson told reporters on Tuesday that Australia's commitment to Iraq would continue, according to Xinhuanet.
Nelson added that the 460 Australian troops currently stationed in Iraq would soon be transferred from the southern province of Al Muthanna where they are currently based to a new part of the country in an effort to maintain security.
Australian troops in Iraq are responsible, in part, for protecting Japanese engineers working in the nation's southern region who are expected to leave Iraq soon.
© 2006 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
