Sectarian crisis in Iraq deepens

THE bodies of 18 men - bound, blindfolded and strangled - were found dumped in Iraq yesterday, apparent victims of the sectarian turmoil gripping Iraq that threatens the formation of a coalition government.

Later yesterday, gunmen wearing the uniform of Iraqi police commandos seized about 50 employees from the offices of a security company, police sources said. An Interior Ministry source said he was unaware of any official police operation in the area.

Iraq's Shi'ite interior minister, a hate figure for many Sunnis who accuse him of condoning death squads, escaped an apparent assassination attempt when a roadside bomb blasted his convoy. Minister Bayan Jabor, however, was not in his car.