Twelve corpses found south of Baghdad

BAGHDAD - The corpses of 12 Iraqis were found south of Baghdad in a treacherous belt of towns where rebels regularly attack Iraqi soldiers and Shiite pilgrims, a security source said.
"Twelve bodies, three of them soldiers, were found on a farm five kilometres east of Latifiyah," the source said.
Nine of the dead resembled Shiite pilgrims on their way to the shrine cities of Karbala and Najaf when they were ambushed, the source said.
The individuals had been killed at different times and their bodies, more than a month old, dumped on the farmland.
A tribal sheikh had reported the deaths to the Iraqi army Saturday, the source added.
The Iraqi army said it found 15 beheaded corpses near Latifiyah on an army base Tuesday, but denied the story on Saturday.
Attacks in the stretch of towns south of Baghdad, christened the Triangle of Death, has enflamed Shiite tempers, but religious leaders have urged the their faithful to refrain from retaliation.

03/13/2005 09:58 GMT