Thursday, July 13 2006 12:42 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Muqdadiyah (Iraq): The bodies of 24 kidnapped Shiites were found today as visiting US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld discussed the worsening security in Baghdad with Iraqi and US officials.

In another gruesome example of the sectarian bloodshed that has engulfed Iraq, 24 Shiites were executed after 26 were abducted earlier today from the town of Muqdadiyah, northeast of Baghdad.

The fate of the other two missing Shiites was not immediately known. Nor was there any immediate explanation for the discrepancy in figures after a Shiite MP earlier said in parliament that between 60 and 80 Shiites had been seized.

The army said 24 had been executed and their bodies found lying in orchards during raids in the village of Zeham, close to Muqdadiyah and the site of sand and stone quarries that employ many people.

According to a security source, the victims were drivers of minibuses, and workers, mostly Shiite Kurds from the Haraqush tribe, in the local quarries.

The tension in Muqdadiyah was palpable in the aftermath of the attack and local authorities, fearing reprisal attacks, closed the town's two gas stations to keep them from being blown up.

In the northern oil city of Kirkuk, an extremist Sunni group, Tawhid wal Jihad, distributed leaflets calling for the closing of the offices of all Shiite political parties in the city.

The burst in sectarian attacks prompted Rumsfeld to make an unannounced visit to Iraq. He met Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and discussed the deteriorating security situation.