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26 bodies found in Baghdad

BAGHDAD: Iraqi police patrols on Saturday found 26 bodies scattered in different parts of the predominantly Shia town of Balad, some 80 km north of Baghdad, local police said.

The bullet-ridden bodies were all bound, a source from Salahudin provincial police said.

The findings came after the bodies of 14 construction workers who were abducted on Thursday were found on Friday in the town of Duluiyah, some 10 km to Balad.

Retaliation suspected

The killed were from a group of 17, who were kidnapped on their way back to their homes in Balad after a day's construction work in Duluiyah on Thursday.

The destiny of the other three remained unknown.

The killings of the construction workers were regarded as an retaliation for the Wednesday kidnapping of three Sunni Arabs in Duluiyah by a Shia militia based in Balad, police said.

The three Sunnis were killed and their bodies burned.

Violence rages in Iraq as sectarian killings, car bombings, roadside bombs cause dozens of Iraqi casualties daily. — Xinhua

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