http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-03-20-iraq_x.htmUpdated 3/20/2006 8:02 PM
More deaths as Iraq war enters fourth year
BAGHDAD (AP) — At least 39 people were killed by insurgents and shadowy sectarian gangs, police reported Monday — continuing the wave of violence that has left nearly 1,000 Iraqis dead since the bombing last month of a
As the Iraq war entered its fourth year, police found the bodies of at least 15 more people — including that of a 13-year-old girl — dumped in and near Baghdad. The discoveries marked the latest in a string of execution-style killings that have become an almost daily event as Sunni and Shiite extremists settle scores.
Sectarian killings have swept across Iraq since the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite Muslim shrine in Samarra. An Associated Press tally, including the deaths reported Monday, put the toll at 993 since the golden dome atop the Askariya shrine was left in rubble by two bombers, who are believed to remain at large.
Among those killed in scattered violence Monday were 10 policemen, who are prime targets for insurgents, most of them Sunni militants, trying to break the will of the mainly Shiite police force. .......