18 abducted Iraqis found dead

Iraqi authorities say they have found the corpses of 18 men shot near a Sunni town just north of Baghdad, hours after they were abducted by gunmen wearing military uniforms.

Police say the men were killed with shots to the head. The bodies were found early Friday in farmland near the Sunni-dominated town of Mishahda. Gunmen in four cars snatched the men, who included two army officers, from their houses late Thursday.

Mishahda is 30 km north of Baghdad.

Such killings are reminiscent of Iraq’s worst days of sectarian warfare in 2006 and 2007, when both Shia and Sunni Muslim death squads roamed the streets and took people from their homes.

Earlier this week, police found 13 bodies in areas around Baghdad.