Iraqi police dead, Qaeda claims kidnapping

By Claudia Parsons

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi police found the bodies of 14 policemen on Friday, all shot in the head, and an al Qaeda-linked group said it had killed them to avenge the alleged rape of a woman last month.

Police said the bodies were discovered close to Baquba, the provincial capital of Diyala province, not far from where the men disappeared on Thursday.

A group called the Islamic State in Iraq said in an Internet statement it had kidnapped 18 men working for the Shi'ite-dominated Interior Ministry following "the rape of our sister ... Sabreen Janabi".

The group later said it had killed them all after the government ignored demands it made for their release.

Janabi has said she was raped by officers from the Shi'ite-dominated police force. The government says medical records show she was not raped.

In Baghdad, where U.S. and Iraqi troops are engaged in a major security crackdown, police said a car bomb killed 10 people and wounded 17 when it ripped through a used car market in Sadr City, a stronghold of the Mehdi Army, a Shi'ite militia.

U.S. and Iraqi military officials said on Thursday troops would soon launch operations to seize weapons and hunt gunmen in Sadr City, signaling their resolve to press ahead with the last-ditch security plan even in sensitive areas.

The Mehdi Army is headed by radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a key backer of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.