Bodies of 18 young Iraqi Shi’ites found in field

THE bodies of 18 young Iraqi Shi’ites taken off a bus and executed last month while seeking work at a US base have been found in a field near the volatile city of Mosul, police yesterday said.

Police said insurgents shot the men, who ranged in age from 14 to 20, on December 8 after stopping their two minibuses about 30 miles west of Mosul.

Their hands were tied behind their back and each was shot in the head, police said. All of the men were Shi’ite Muslims from Baghdad’s northern neighbourhood of Kadhimiya who had been hired by an Iraqi contractor to work at a US base in Mosul.

The bodies were discovered on Wednesday, the same day a suicide attacker blew up an explosives-laden car outside a police academy south of Baghdad in Hillah during a graduation ceremony, killing 20 people.

A second car bomber killed five Iraqi policemen in Baqouba - bringing the death toll to at least 90 this week in surging violence aimed at derailing this month’s elections.

In a separate execution-style incident, the bodies of three Jordanian truck drivers shot in the head were discovered on the outskirts of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, said a photographer at the scene yesterday.

“This is the fate of anyone who cooperates with the Americans,” said a note placed on one of the bodies.

A marine belonging to the 1st marine expeditionary force was killed in action yesterday while conducting operations in the Al Anbar province in western Iraq.

Iraq’s interim leader insisted the ballot would go ahead as planned.