12 Bodies Found In Baghdad; Eight U.S. Soldiers Killed

(RFE/RL) May 27, 2007 -- Officials say Iraqi police found 12 bullet-riddled bodies with their hands bound and showing signs of torture in southern Baghdad today.

City authorities say they recover 20 to 30 corpses from the city's streets almost daily.

In other Iraqi violence today, two people were killed when gunmen ambushed a market in northern Baghdad.

In a separate attack, gunmen shot dead two people on the outskirts of the capital.

North of the capital, two senior police officers were killed in the city of Samarra.

In another incident, U.S. forces say they rescued 41 Iraqi civilians from an Al-Qaeda hideout northeast of Baghdad.

A U.S. spokesman, Major General William Caldwell, said some of the freed Iraqis showed signs of torture.

He said they were transported to medical facilities for treatment. Caldwell said some among the 41 had been held as long as four months.

Meanwhile, the United States military has reported the deaths of eight more U.S. soldiers in attacks and fighting in Iraq, bringing to at least 100 the number of U.S. troops killed so far this month.

The casualty rate is putting May on course to be one of the deadliest months for U.S. forces in Iraq since the start of the war.

More than 3,450 U.S. troops have been reported killed in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion.

(compiled from agency reports)