Iraqi and US forces battled rebels in Baghdad for the second straight day Tuesday as car bombs exploded near two Shia mosques in a wave of violence that has surged amid the country's protracted power vacuum.
Police also found 15 bullet-riddled bodies across Baghdad of men shot execution style in apparent sectarian bloodshed. Late Tuesday, Iraqi troops were still under sporadic gunfire from insurgents in Baghdad's Sunni stronghold of Adhamiyah where the army was conducting search operations.
The army, along with US forces, on Monday fought a group of 50 gunmen in the neighbourhood. Five rebels were killed and seven captured after a seven-hour battle.
However, dozens of militants appeared to have escaped and others continued to attack the troops Tuesday as they conducted house-to-house searches for the second day, an interior ministry official said.
Ashraf Qazi, the special representative of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, called upon "the responsible authorities to investigate the incident and ensure that those responsible are brought to justice."
Late Tuesday a car bomb exploded near the Abbas al-Hassad Shia mosque in southern Baghdad, injuring three people, an interior ministry official.
Elsewhere six people were killed in rebel attacks.
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