Special report:Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi police patrols found 30 bodies in Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said on Thursday.

    "Our patrols found up to 30 bodies in different neighborhoods of Baghdad during the past 24 hours," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    The bullet-riddled bodies were bound and blindfolded, showing signs of torture, he said, adding the Iraqi police had transformed all the bodies to the morgue.

    The almost daily gruesome bodies' findings, assassinations and explosions in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities were seen as a major setback for the Iraqi government's efforts to stem violence and achieve national reconciliation.

    More than 3,700 Iraqi civilians were killed in October, the highest death toll in a single month since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said in a report on Wednesday.