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By SINAN SALAHEDDIN - Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq(AP) U.S. National Intelligence Director John Negroponte met Friday with the Iraqi prime minister, in the second visit this week by a top U.S. official amid spiraling violence that included four American deaths and the discovery of 56 bodies bearing signs of torture.
The bodies found scattered around the Iraqi capital were of men between 20 and 45 years old, and all were apparent victims of sectarian death squads, police said Friday.
All wore civilian clothes and had been bound at the wrists and ankles, police Lt. Mohammed Khayon said. He said the bodies showed signs of having been tortured, a common practice among religious extremists who seize victims from private homes or from cars and buses traveling the capital's dangerous streets.
Such murders almost always go unsolved and Khayon said the police had no solid information on the victims' identities or their killers.
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