MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) - The bodies of what are believed to be nine murdered Iraqi soldiers were found in central Mosul as US and Iraqi forces patrolled the city in a continuing bid to flush out insurgents.
The men, discovered in an industrial area not far from the scene of some of the worst clashes in Mosul, appeared to have been killed by a bullet to the head, an AFP correspondent said.
Four of the corpses were also badly burned, the correspondent said.
Senior Iraqi and US military sources said they probably belonged to an Iraqi army unit that had joined US troops for a massive onslaught against insurgents in the country's third-largest city.
With US attack helicopters and soldiers covering them, Iraqi national guardsmen retrieved the bodies.
"These are not my men. They all have IDs from outside Baghdad. It seems they had been on leave and were returning to their barracks," said Lieutenant Colonel Ammar Abdelhadi.
"Some of the guys from an army unit recently moved to one of the US bases to take part in the operation. They have some guys missing," said Lieutenant Colonel Michael Kurilla of the 1st Battalion 24th Regiment of the Stryker Brigade.
A witness said he saw gunmen execute some of the men who were found dead.
"A group of five young men pulled up in front of the nearby veterinarian hospital, shot four men and dumped the bodies on the railway tracks," said Abu Abed.
Parts of Mosul were set ablaze last week when insurgents ransacked and torched about 10 police stations in coordinated attacks, panicking police who abandoned their posts.
A force of about 1,200 soldiers and 1,600 Iraqi security forces took to the streets Tuesday to restore order, in the latest major push to reclaim rebel enclaves in Iraq.
At least 15 insurgents have been killed and 45 suspects detained over the last 24 hours while US-back Iraqi commandos Friday stormed a suspected rebel position in Mosul's old city, a warren of cramped streets and crumbling homes.
The operation took around an hour, and Iraqi military officials have promised similar assaults in the future.
The military is also searching for two missing Iraqi national guard officers feared kidnapped a few days ago by insurgents setting up road blocks elsewhere in the city.
The Islamist group of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi claimed to have publicly killed two national guards in Mosul this week, according to an Internet statement on Friday.
"The heroes of Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia cut the throats Thursday afternoon of two despots of the heathen national guard, a colonel and a lieutenant," said the text, signed by Zarqawi's "Jihad in the Land of Two Rivers" group.
"Their execution took place in Mosul in front of a huge crowd," it added.
Its authenticity could not immediately be verified.
Despite Saturday's grim discovery, Mosul Governor Duraid Kashmula insisted that the situation was under control and vowed to create a new police force after nearly 80 percent of his 5,000 police officers deserted in the November 11 attacks.
"We will replace all the deserters in the police force and hire new policemen that believe in their country and will stand up and defend and die for their country," he said.
He said Saturday marked the first time that schools and government buildings were open since the insurgents first struck, adding that the city's bridges had also been reopened.
Streets in central Mosul appeared more active Saturday, with some shops open and huge numbers of people queuing for petrol, the correspondent said.
"I came to work today and everything was fine," said one woman who works at the provincial government building, who refused to give her name
The building, which rebels had unsuccessfully tried to seize, was being guarded by US and Iraqi forces.
But many city services are still suspended, and the streets in some flashpoint neighborhoods remain tense.
"I need to go back to my home and with them around I cannot do that," said Tareq Nuri, whose house is next to one of the police stations torched by insurgents and now occupied by US and Iraqi forces.
11/20/2004 - 11:52 GMT - AFP