3 Beheaded Bodies Found Near Baghdad

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BAGHDAD, Iraq – Villagers found three decapitated bodies north of Baghdad yesterday and a car bomb killed two people at an Iraqi military checkpoint south of the capital in attacks that appear to be increasingly targeting Iraqis rather than America and its multinational force allies.


The bodies were found in nylon bags, the heads in bags alongside them, near Dijiel, about 25 miles north of Baghdad, said Colonel Adnan Abdul-Rahman of the Interior Ministry. They were all men with tattoos, including one with the letter “H” on his arm, but no documents were found on them, he said.


An American military official said the bodies appeared to be Iraqis and had their hands tied behind their backs. While insurgents have often beheaded foreign hostages in their fight against the government and coalition forces, it is not a tactic usually used against Iraqis, who are more often abducted for money.


Residents from a nearby village found the bodies shortly after dawn and notified the Iraqi national guard, said Iraqi Lieutenant Ahmad Farouk.


An Associated Press photographer saw the three corpses lined up with their heads by their sides on the floor at the guard compound before American troops collected them and handed them over to police. Two wore jeans and shirts and the third wore sweat pants and a T-shirt. All appeared young.


The latest car bomb targeted a national guard checkpoint in Suwayrah, about 40 miles south of Baghdad, Colonel Abdul-Rahman said. One guardsman was among the two dead; 10 civilians were wounded. Also yesterday,10 people were killed and six wounded in clashes between insurgents and American forces in Ramadi, a predominantly Sunni Muslim city west of the capital where anti-American sentiments are high, said Saad al-Amili, a senior Health Ministry official in Baghdad.


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