A New Record

Killings in Baghdad Escalate Over Past Week
By Louise Roug
LA Times Staff Writer

BAGHDAD — The number of killings in the Iraq capital escalated last week despite an American-led crackdown, with morgue workers receiving as many bodies as they had during the first three weeks of the month combined.

At least 334 people, including 23 women, were slain in Baghdad between Aug. 27 and Sept. 2, according to morgue figures provided by Ministry of Health officials. Most of the victims had been kidnapped, tortured, hogtied and shot.

During the week, at least 394 other people were killed around Iraq in other types of violence, including bombings, mortar attacks and gunfights, Iraqi authorities said.

The spike in violence followed an announcement by U.S. and Iraqi officials at the beginning of the week that the number of killings in the capital had dramatically fallen during the month, from more than 1,800 in July. Although August as a whole was still less violent than the month before, last week's killings suggested that death squads were still able to move about Baghdad despite checkpoints and curfews.

Today, the mutilated, handcuffed and blindfolded bodies of another 33 men were found in various Baghdad neighborhoods, according to authorities.

(More here.)