Baghdad police found the bodies of 18 men, bound and blindfolded, in a minibus close to a violent mainly Sunni Arab district of the capital.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said it was unclear how the men died. One police source said they may have suffocated.

The identities of the men, found just before 2100 GMT near the Amriya district of western Baghdad, were not known.

The dumping of bodies bearing signs of torture and killed execution-style has become a feature of a sectarian war being waged among Iraqi armed factions.

Official figures and anecdotal evidence suggest an increase in such killings since the destruction of a major Shia shrine in Samarra two weeks ago on 22 February sparked reprisal attacks.

Sunni Arabs accuse the police and other government forces of using death squads against them. The Shia-led, US-backed government denies that.

Sniper kills Iraqi army general

A senior Iraqi army general has been shot dead in western Baghdad, police sources have said.

Major General Mibdir Hatim al-Dulaimi was killed by a sniper while driving through the Gazaliya area of the city at about 1700 (1400 GMT).

Maj Gen Dulaimi is thought to have been responsible for security for part of the Iraqi capital.

He is also believed to be the most senior Iraqi officer to be killed since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Parliament session

It comes amid increased sectarian strife, triggered by a bomb attack on an important Shia shrine in Samarra on 22 February.

More than 400 people have died in violence since then, including several people in a wave of car bomb attacks in and around Baghdad on Monday.

The Iraqi government has imposed curfews and appealed to religious leaders to call for calm in sermons.

President Jalal Talabani has announced that parliament will sit for the first time on Sunday, starting the process for selecting new leaders.

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