Iraq crisis: Fifty bodies found south of Baghdad
Al-Huriya News Agency - Iraqi security forces have found the bullet-riddled bodies of 53 men in a mainly Shia area south of Baghdad.
The men, who were bound, blindfolded and had wounds to the head or chest, were found in a field outside Hamza al-Gharbi, a town in Babil province. It was not immediately clear who the victims were or why they were killed.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki alleged that Kurdish-controlled Irbil province is becoming a haven for the jihadist-led Sunni rebels. However, he provided no evidence to back up the claim, which was vigorously denied by a Kurdish official in London.
The prime minister's relationship with the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government, which controls Irbil and two other neighbouring provinces, has deteriorated as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) and its allies have taken control of large swathes of northern and western Iraq.
