At least 23 bodies – many of them hanged – were found dumped in parts of Baghdad today, Iraqi police said.

IRAQI forces have launched a new security operation against insurgents in the Baghdad area.

TWO suicide bombers blew themselves up yesterday in a crowd of police officers south of Baghdad, killing up to 30 people and wounding dozens, while US forces briefly detained a Sunni political leader on the second day of an Iraqi-led security sweep in the capital.

Gunmen shot and killed a senior official in Iraq’s Transportation Ministry today, police said.

A ROADSIDE bomb left two soldiers dead, while an Apache helicopter killed seven guerrillas thought to be preparing a rocket attack on an American base, the US military said yesterday.