Baghdad, Iraq – The bodies of 38 men shot execution-style were found dumped around an abandoned chicken farm, a trash-strewn lot and an insurgent stronghold west of the capital, police said Sunday. The grisly finds were the latest in a seemingly endless stream of violence, much of it designed to destabilize Iraq’s new government and hasten a U.S. retreat.
More than 450 people have been killed in just over two weeks since Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari’s Cabinet was announced. At least 10 more Iraqis were killed in a spree of bombings and shootings Sunday.
On a lightning visit, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Iraqis to be patient, saying the insurgency can be beaten with the help of a strong political alternative.
Police in Baghdad’s Sadr City, a Shiite-dominated slum, discovered 13 slain men, most appearing to be in their 20s, lying facedown in a shallow grave in a lot Sunday. Residents told police a truck dumped the bodies there early Sunday and three people covered them with dirt, said police Lt. Col. Hafidh Maan.
Eleven more bodies were found late Saturday at a deserted chicken farm in Huqoul, about 25 miles south of the capital, said police Capt. Muthna Khalid Ali.
The next day, the bullet-riddled bodies of a judge, an Education Ministry official and a bodyguard were discovered near the same farm.
The bodies of 10 Iraqi soldiers were found Saturday in the battleground city of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry statement said.
