Minibus passengers killed at fake checkpoint in Iraq

In Iraq Sunni gunmen ambushed a convoy of minibuses at a fake checkpoint on the dangerous highway south of Baghdad, killing 10 Shiite passengers and kidnapping over 50.

It happened near the volatile town of Latifiyah, about 20 miles south of Baghdad in the so-called Triangle of Death.

Shiite Muslims, a minority in that district, have routinely come under attack from Sunni insurgents who control the territory.

The latest killings follow an incident in a busy Baghdad market yesterday, in which eight people died and at least 38 were wounded when two bombs hidden under parked cars exploded among shoppers.

Across Iraq, at least 52 other people were killed in violence or were found dead, five of them decapitated Iraqi soldiers.