Iraqi police today reported they had found the bodies of at least 65 men killed by gunshots, most bound hand and foot, in a gruesome wave of apparent sectarian killing over the past 24 hours in some of Baghdad’s most dangerous neighbourhoods.

Three bombs exploded within an hour in Baghdad today, killing at least 23 people and injuring 56.

Three bombs exploded today within an hour in Baghdad, killing 17 people and injuring 48.

THE US military launched a major combat operation yesterday as 1,000 US Marines and Iraqi soldiers fanned out to track down insurgents and foreign fighters in a volatile western province straddling Syria.