BAGHDAD, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Fifteen civilian employees working at a police academy and two translators were abducted and then killed in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Sunday, a local police source told Xinhua.

    The employees and their translators were taken out of a bus at gunpoint on the outskirts of Basra at about 5 p.m. (1400 GMT), the anonymous police source said.

    About hours later, police discovered their bodies were dumped in several locations across the second largest city, some 550 km south of Baghdad, the source added.

    The police academy is currently run by the British army, for which the two translators are working, according to the source.

    Basra, with about 80 percent of its population are Shiite, once enjoyed relative calm since the Saddam Hussein regime was toppled in the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. However, tensions ran high in the city during the past few months.

    About 8,000 British troops are currently deployed there.