45 Iraqi Corpses Found at 2 Sites

The bodies of at least 45 Iraqi men, women and children, some of them shot and others beheaded, have been found in mass graves near the Syrian border and south of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said Wednesday.

The grim discovery was made as a suicide bomber targeted a hotel in Baghdad housing American officials and contractors. One Iraqi police officer was killed and dozens of guards and contractors were injured.

Authorities said they were alerted to the mass killings in western Iraq by travelers passing through the hamlet of Rumana on the banks of the Euphrates River. “They smelled something foul coming from the area where the bodies were later found,” said Alla Saloom, a native of Qaim.

The hamlet is about three miles from Qaim, a town near the Syria-Iraq border that has been an entry point for foreign fighters and a hide-out for smugglers and insurgents.

The bodies of women and children were among the dead found at the graves on the Euphrates. All had been shot in the head or chest, doctors said.

“It seems they were killed a few days ago, because some of their faces were distorted by having been left exposed to the outdoors,” said Dr. Mohammed Ani at a hospital in Haditha.

Also found was the corpse of a man in a police uniform, leading authorities to speculate that the main target may have been Iraqi security forces.

“None of those killed could be recognized other than a policeman because he was wearing a blue police uniform,” Ani said.

The U.S. military has been trying to stop illegal border crossings for more than a year and has been involved in several violent confrontations in the area. In recent weeks, Marines have also undertaken an effort to win the support of residents in the Qaim area, distributing gifts ranging from toys to sheep.

Qaim is on the western border of Al Anbar province, a Sunni Muslim region where Marines have been unable to maintain order despite their assault on the former rebel bastion of Fallouja in November. After the U.S. took control of Fallouja, many foreign fighters and insurgents loyal to former President Saddam Hussein fled to outlying areas of the province, officials believe.

Gen. Jassim Dulaimi of the police force in Ramadi, the provincial capital, said the search for victims was continuing.

The discovery occurred a day after 15 beheaded bodies were found in Latifiya, a few miles south of Baghdad. Iraqi troops came upon the corpses in a building inside an abandoned former army base, Defense Ministry Capt. Sabah Yassin told Associated Press.

Among the dead were three women and two children. Yassin said other victims were thought to have been Iraqi soldiers kidnapped by insurgents two weeks ago.

The violence occurred as members of the Iraqi National Assembly, which was elected in late January, continued closed discussions on how to form a government. Contradictory reports have emerged about whether they have made progress. Despite hopes that the election would stem insurgent activity, bloody attacks have continued unabated.

In Baghdad on Wednesday, a U.S. soldier was killed and one was injured when a roadside bomb exploded as they were on patrol, the military said.

Also in the capital, two guards were killed in an attack on Iraqi Planning Minister Mehdi Hafidh, Iraqi officials said. Hafidh, a secular Shiite, lived in the West for many years. The attempted assassination took place near the Saudi Embassy in the upscale Mansour area on the capital’s west side, Undersecretary of Culture Maysoon Damluji told Agence France-Presse.

Earlier in the day, insurgents had attacked the Safir Hotel in Baghdad, where heavily armed American civilians working with the U.S. government are the principal guests. The Safir is heavily fortified with sand barriers, and numerous armed guards are stationed outside.

Automatic weapons fire could be heard before and after the blast. A large cloud of black smoke rose a few blocks from Firdos Square, the roundabout where Iraqis toppled a statue of Hussein on April 9, 2003.

Arab websites said Jordanian-born insurgent Abu Musab Zarqawi claimed responsibility for the bombing. The Iraqi News Agency site said Zarqawi described the hotel as “a Jewish stronghold” and “safe house.”

Using a garbage truck rigged with explosives, a suicide bomber detonated the vehicle in a park near the hotel as well as a complex of government buildings, including the Agriculture Ministry, and private health facilities. At least one Iraqi police officer was killed.

“Terrorists attacked the guard at the outer gate that leads to the ministry and the hotel and killed him, and that opened the way for the trash car bomb that entered to the park after a fight with the internal guards,” said Basim Wahid, a ministry guard.

Ayad Abdaljabar, who lives in the neighborhood, shook his head in disbelief: “I don’t know why these terrorists attack the ministry, which is a service ministry that has no relation with politics. These people want to destroy our country.”

The U.S. Embassy took the rare step of issuing a news release about the bombing, indicating how seriously officials were taking the incident. According to the release, 30 of the 40 people who were injured were American contractors.

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Times staff writer Saif Rasheed in Baghdad and a special correspondent in western Iraq contributed to this report.