Shooting victims found in Baghdad

Hardly a day passes without bodies of people abducted being found

Iraqi police say they have found in the space of one day 60 bodies of people bound, tortured and shot in the capital, Baghdad.

They were found all over the city, from Sunni areas in the west to Shia districts in the east - but most were found in largely Sunni west Baghdad.

Sectarian killings are not unusual in the city but this is a large number for one day, a BBC correspondent says.

Meanwhile, car bombs killed at least 22 people in Baghdad.

One device near the national sports stadium in the eastern Shaab district exploded in a parked car during the morning rush hour, killing 14 people including two policemen and wounding at least 57.

A bomb later went off near a police patrol in the Zayona district, also in the east, killing eight people and injuring at least 17.

The Shaab bomb went off as police were passing

In other developments

• A mortar attack in central Baghdad wounded at least one policeman and several civilians
• The US military announced the death of an American soldier wounded by "enemy action" in Anbar province

Fifteen of the bodies found by police were discovered in eastern Baghdad where most of the city's Shia live.

Police have not been able to identify any of the 60, let alone say whether they are Shia or Sunni, the BBC's James Shaw reports.

Nor have they been able to explain what seems to be a sudden increase in sectarian violence, he adds.