IRAQ: Iraqi security forces yesterday discovered the beheaded bodies of three men, believed to be Arabs and possibly Iraqis, dumped by a roadside north of Baghdad.
There was no identification on the bodies, although two had old tattoos in Roman letters and one had a tattoo in Arabic script. Each was clothed and had been placed in a nylon bag, with their heads strapped to their backs.
Dozens of Jordanian, Egyptian, Kuwaiti and Turkish truck drivers have been kidnapped on roads north of the capital in recent months, often by Islamist militant groups operating from the insurgent town of Falluja. Several of the hostages have been released, in some cases after ransoms have been paid, but many others have been beheaded.
Iraqi national guard troops found the bodies near Dujail, 40 miles north of Baghdad and close to Samarra, a known insurgent stronghold. The US military said the bodies were Arab and may have been local.
Several Western hostages are still being held, including two French journalists and two Italian women working for an aid agency.
A Jordanian haulage firm yesterday became the latest to announce it was stopping its work in Iraq in an attempt to win the freedom of a kidnapped driver. An Islamist militant group calling itself the Lions of the Monotheism Brigade released a video earlier this week showing Khalifa al-Breizat, and threatening to kill him unless the firm stopped work within 48 hours.
"We've pulled back all our trucks, and we are not sending any into Iraq," an official from the firm told al-Jazeera TV. Another video message, obtained yesterday, showed a Turkish translator being released.
Elsewhere in Iraq, the latest upsurge in violence that has claimed at least 200 lives in four days showed no signs of abating.
Ten people, including two women, were killed in fighting between US troops and insurgents in Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad. A car bomb hit an Iraqi national guard checkpoint in Suwayra, south of Baghdad, killing two and wounding 10.