Iraq's Valley of Peace helps overflowing morgues

[Barrett808]

Iraq's Valley of Peace helps overflowing morgues
By Khaled Farhan

NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Shi'ites from all over the world aspire to be buried in Najaf's sacred Valley of Peace cemetery, but the dozens of Iraqi corpses brought there every Friday bear witness only to the carnage sweeping the country.

Baghdad morgues fill up so quickly that victims of Iraq's sectarian violence cannot be kept for long and unidentified corpses must be moved elsewhere.

...

"There are usually signs of torture and mutilation like the drilling of eyes and skulls, or severed limbs," he said.

"I will never forget that horrible scene when one corpse's head was cut off and replaced with a dog's head." Muslims consider dogs to be dirty animals. Most of the victims of violence are bound, a trademark sign of sectarian killings.

Seventy-five bodies arrived at the cemetery this Friday.

"Most of the bodies were bound by chains so we always have to keep a cutter nearby to cut them. Most bodies were beheaded and they have a lot of holes in the head and face," said cemetery worker Riad Ahmed.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060728/wl_nm/iraq_dead_dc