The bodies of 50 people, thought to be hostages held in a town near Baghdad recently, have reportedly been found in the Tigris river, while another 19 bodies have turned up in a football stadium in Haditha.

Aljazeera reports quoting Iraq President Jalal Talabani as saying on Wednesday that the 50 bodies found near al-Suwaira were those of people recently abducted from al-Madain town, south of Baghdad.

Iraqi security forces raided the town but said they found next to no evidence that anyone had been taken hostage or that any armed men were in the town.

Later, Shia officials said dozens of bodies had been found in the Tigris south of al-Madain, but residents and police in the area who spoke to Reuters said they hadn't seen any bodies.

Separately, the bodies of 19 Iraqis were left in a soccer stadium in Haditha, a town 220km northwest of Baghdad, an Iraqi reporter and residents said.

An Interior Ministry official said the victims were Iraqi soldiers executed by anti-government fighters on Wednesday.

New government

Addressing the media, Talabani also said he Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari would unveil the new Iraqi cabinet on Thursday, Aljazeera reports.

"We want to announce it as soon as possible," he after the meeting on Wednesday with Jafari, former interim prime minister Iyad Allawi and Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of the Shia political party Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq (Sciri).

Iraqi leaders have been negotiating over the formation of the government since the 30 January elections that brought a Shia to power.

But disagreements over which parties should get which ministries, and on how the Sunni should be brought into political process, have held up the formation of the government.

Much of the squabbling has focused on the Oil, Interior and Defence Ministries. The Interior Ministry is expected to go to a member of Sciri, the main party in the Shia alliance.

PHOTO CAPTION

Iraqi firefighters try to extinguish a fire after a car bomb exploded near a U.S. convoy in an area of western Baghdad, Iraq, where the notorious Abu Ghraib prison is located, setting a US Army convoy on fire, Wednesday, April 20, 2005. (AP)