23 Men Found Executed in Baghdad

Police in Iraq on Wednesday discovered 23 bodies of men who had been shot or strangled.

The bodies were found on two locations. The bound and blindfolded bodies of 18 men were found in a minibus in western Baghdad, a police spokesman said. He said three of the victims had been shot in the back of the head. The men were of various ages, dressed in civilian clothes and had no identification on them, the BBC said.

The discovery was made in the Amiriyah suburb, which is mainly populated by Sunni Arabs. The killings are believed to be related to sectarian violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, the report said. It began Feb. 22 when a Shiite shrine was bombed in Samarra.

Five bodies, each shot and their hands tied in front, were found in a shallow hole in Kasraw Atash, an industrial area in northeast Baghdad, The Washington Post reported.

Wednesday in Baquba, one police officer died and one was wounded when attackers sprayed a patrol with gunfire, an official told CNN. A few minutes later, a car bomb exploded in the same neighborhood, narrowly missing police but killing a bystander.