Death Toll Mounts In Iraq
50 Bodies Found In Recent Days; Government Vows Crackdown
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Play CBS Video Video More Bodies, Bombs In Iraq More bodies of executed Iraqis are being uncovered around the country as back-to-back market bombs killed nine. Arrests of insurgents and foreign extremists continue, Mark Strassmann reports.
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Video Columbus Mourns Marines The 'Lucky Lima' company of Marines from Ohio faced off with insurgents in Operation Matador. Cynthia Bowers reports that four young Lima men came home in caskets this week.
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Video Iraqi Violence Surges Iraqi officials vow to crack down on the killers of more than 40 people whose bodies were found over the weekend. CBS News' Mark Strassmann reports.
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Jassim Flayih cries over the coffin of his cousin Wadah al-Dulaimi, during his funeral in Baghdad's Sadr City district on Monday. (AP)
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A coffin containing one of the 13 blindfolded and bound men found dead in Baghdad's Sadr City district, is taken away from the morgue, Monday, May 16, 2005. (AP)
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U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice with Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani and U.S. Army troops in Irbil, Iraq, Sunday, May 15, 2005. (AP)
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Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
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Interactive American Heroes Profiles of U.S. soldiers who've died in Iraq, a look at the war's toll and pictures of mourning.
Many of the victims had been blindfolded, bound and shot multiple times in the head. Most — including 13 found in Sadr City – had no documents to identify them.
Another body was found Monday, this time an Iraqi Kurd shot in the head and chest and left in a garbage dump in Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, police and witnesses said. An AP reporter saw the victim, identified by police as Najat Saadoun, with his hands tied behind his back.
Associated Press Television News also obtained footage Monday showing at least three more bodies, who police said had been shot in the head, being brought into a Baghdad hospital. Police said they were among six bodies found dumped near a dam in the capital's Shiite-dominated eastern Shaab neighborhood. Two other victims were found alive, but died in hospital later.
An influential association of Sunni Muslim clerics identified the victims as Sunnis, and said the two survivors told relatives they were seized by members of the Shiite-dominated government's own security forces and shot during a series of raids.
Defense Minister Saadoun al-Duleimi denied the accusation, saying the killings were carried out by "terrorists" wearing military uniforms.
The grisly finds were a new twist in an endless stream of violence, with more than 460 people killed in a wave of bombings and ambushes since the April 28 announcement of the new Iraqi government.
Secretary Rice acknowledged the violence but urged patience as she met with Iraq's new leaders Sunday during a surprise trip meant to support the Iraqi government.
"This is a huge, historical change," she said. "I keep trying to emphasize to people that these things take time."
U.S. and Iraqi forces detained another 52 suspected militants in raids Sunday and Monday in Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk.
©MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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