Dozens killed, 50 bodies found in Iraq

BAGHDAD: At least 30 Iraqis were killed and 50 bodies were found in Baghdad as UN chief Kofi Annan described the situation in Iraq as far worse than what was considered a civil war in Lebanon.

Thirty-five of the bodies were uncovered in Karkh, a majority Sunni district on the west bank of the Tigris, while the remaining 15 were found in Rusafa, a mainly Shiite area on the eastern side of the river on Sunday.

"Some of the bodies showed signs of torture," according to the police.

Annan's remark came a few hours after President Jalal Talabani became the second Iraqi leader, after powerful Shiite politician Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, to reject the UN chief's call for an international peace conference on Iraq.

Insurgents were back at work on Sunday, when one wearing an explosive belt blew himself up next to a police station near the northern oil city of Kirkuk, killing three officers, Major General Torhan Yussef said.

Farther south, at least 16 people were murdered in and around the restive town of Baquba, according to security and medical sources.

And Shiite Imam Taha Yassin, close to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, was shot dead after evening prayers near his home in the southern city of Najaf.

Elsewhere 10 people were killed.

The US military reported the deaths of seven more troops and confirmed that a pilot whose fighter plane crashed last week in northwestern Iraq was killed.