Many Iraqi bodies found dumped

• The bodies of 18 Iraqis, shot dead, have been found dumped on roadsides in central Iraq.

Thirteen corpses, including that of a young woman, were discovered near Latifiyah, 40km south of Baghdad, witnesses said. The bodies displayed bullet holes that gave the impression their killers had shot them at close range, said resident Abd al-Rahman al-Janabi. Most of the bodies were men aged between 20 and 40, along with a woman who appeared to be in her mid-twenties. Residents were afraid to alert police for fear of reprisal by fighters in the stretch of lush farmland south ofBaghdad. Also south of Baghdad, the bullet-riddled corpses of four Iraqis working with a foreign company were discovered near Kut. [more]