BEIJING, Nov. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Four U.S. soldiers and a U.S. Marine have died in Iraq, the U.S. military said Friday.

    Earlier in the day, the military said that four U.S. service members were killed on Thursday, and three of them were killed in a roadside bombing in Baghdad and one Marine killed in the volatile Anbar province in west of the country.

    Later in the day, the military said that another U.S. soldier died "due to non-combat causes" north of Baghdad.

    The deaths bring to 2,824 the number of U.S. soldiers who have died since the war in Iraq began.

    The names of the soldiers and the Marine were withheld pending notification of relatives.

    Fifty-six bullet-riddled bodies were found in Baghdad by Iraq police in the past 24 hours, a Baghdad emergency police official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity Friday morning.

    Most of the bullet-riddled bodies were bound, blindfolded and showing signs of torture, the source said.

    Iraqi police were unable to identify the bodies. Dumped, slain bodies are found daily in the capital and police think these deaths have evolved out of Sunni-Shiite sectarian vendettas.

    The almost daily gruesome body findings, assassinations and explosions in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities were seen as a major setback for the Iraqi government's efforts to stem violence and achieve national reconciliation.

    UN and Iraqi officials estimate that more than 100 Iraqis are killed everyday in insurgent attacks and fighting between Sunni and Shiite factions.

Iraqi police find 56 bodies in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi police patrols found 56 unidentified bodies scattered in different parts of Baghdad on Friday, a police source said.

"Up to 56 unidentified bodies have been found by our patrols in the past 24 hours, with 34 of them found in western Baghdad," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. Full Story

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