1,400 killed in baghdad in may. figure does not include insurgent bombings.

[E-Nice]

Baghdad targeted civilian killings soar in May

Most were victims of execution-style murders, Iraqi official says

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Nearly 1,400 Iraqi civilians died in a wave of targeted killings in Baghdad last month, according to a high-ranking Iraqi Health Ministry official.

The figure does not include civilians killed in insurgent bombings, the official said. Even so, the number is the highest monthly death toll in the capital since the war began three years ago.
In May 1,398 bodies were brought to the Baghdad morgue, the official said.

All were killed in attacks; in most cases the bodies were found strewn across the Iraqi capital, shot execution-style, the official said.
At least 400 of the bodies could not be identified and will be buried by the government in three weeks if they are not claimed, the official said.

The number of Iraqis who have died in Baghdad alone in the first five months of the year stands at 6,025, or more than 1,200 a month, according to CNN's calculation.

If this monthly death rate continues, 2006 would exceed last year -- with some 10,150 bodies received by the morgue -- as the deadliest year in the capital since the war began.


Heads found on highway

Iraqi police found nine heads Tuesday along a highway in Hadid, a town just west of Baquba about 37 miles (60 kilometers) north of Baghdad, police and hospital officials said.

The heads were wrapped in black plastic bags and shoved into fruit boxes, authorities said. Their identities could not be immediately confirmed.
It was the second such discovery in four days.

On Saturday, eight heads were found in Hadid and also had been stuffed into fruit boxes.

Also Tuesday, a roadside bomb exploded at Allawi bus station in central Baghdad, killing a woman and wounding a child, Iraqi police said. Police said the blast was targeting a passing U.S. military convoy.

Three mortar rounds landed at the Nadha bus station in central Baghdad later Tuesday, killing two civilians and wounding seven others, police said.
The bus facility is near the Iraqi Interior Ministry, and police said the compound was the target of the attack.

Gunmen also shot and killed a Baghdad neighborhood council member and two of his bodyguards Tuesday morning, an Interior Ministry official said.
According to the official, Sha'ban Nidham was traveling by car in the western Baghdad neighborhood of Jihad when gunmen opened fire.
Meanwhile, there was no word on the fate of 50 people kidnapped Monday in Baghdad.

The kidnappers were wearing the uniforms of Iraqi police commandos and driving at least 13 vehicles with Iraqi police markings when they raided three transportation companies, an Interior Ministry official said.

[Ash]

I'm sure Sadaam killed more in a month.

Mission Accomplished.