Iraq forces find 53 corpses south of Baghdad: officials

An Iraqi security forces member walks past at the site of a car bomb attack, in the city of Hilla on June 5, 2014. Iraqi security forces found the bodies on Wednesday, July 9, 2014, of 53 men who had been bound and executed, police and medical o
An Iraqi security forces member walks past at the site of a car bomb attack, in the city of Hilla on June 5, 2014. Iraqi security forces found the bodies on Wednesday, July 9, 2014, of 53 men who had been bound and executed, police and medical officials said. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

HILLA (AFP) - Iraqi security forces found the bodies on Wednesday of 53 men who had been bound and executed, police and medical officials said.

The men were found in orchards south of Babil provincial capital Hilla, all with gunshots to the head or chest, in killings reminiscent of the brutal sectarian bloodshed that gripped Iraq in 2006-7.

A mortuary official said the victims were killed at least a week ago.

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