Special report:Tension escalates in Iraq

An Iraqi man holds his grandson killed in a military raid in the Shiite district of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq , Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2006. Coalition forces raided Baghdad's Sadr City Shiite stronghold on Tuesday, killing three people, including a young boy, police said. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    BAGHDAD, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi police patrols found 30 bodies in Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said on Thursday.

    "Our patrols found up to 30 bodies in different neighborhoods of Baghdad during the past 24 hours," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    The bullet-riddled bodies were bound and blindfolded, showing signs of torture, he said, adding the Iraqi police had transformed all the bodies to the morgue.

    The almost daily gruesome bodies' 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.

    More than 3,700 Iraqi civilians were killed in October, the highest death toll in a single month since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said in a report on Wednesday.

UN: Iraqi civilian deaths hit high in Oct.

    GENEVA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The number of Iraqi civilian deaths reached a new high of 3,709 in October, says a U.N. report released on Wednesday.

    The latest bimonthly human rights report issued by the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said last month's death toll exceeded the previous high of 3,590 in July. Full story

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