Bodies Of Eight Iraqis Found

An Iraqi soldier at a checkpoint in Al-Najaf Province (file photo) (epa) August 22, 2006 -- The bodies of eight fruit traders have been found on the side of a road south of Baghdad.

Their throats had been slit.

Ahmed Diabil, a spokesman for Al-Najaf Province, said that the eight were kidnapped and killed on August 21 and the bodies dumped in Madaen, 40 kilometers south of the capital.

The brother of two of the victims said they had been on their way to buy watermelons.

(Reuters)