Iraqi police found 20 bodies buried in an open area in eastern Baghdad on Tuesday, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.

"A police patrol found at least 20 bodies of young men buried in an open area between Kamaliyah and Fedhiliyah neighborhoods," the source said on condition of anonymity.

The bodies seemed to bear signs of torture and the execution-style killings were believed to be done recently, said the source, adding that the police were still digging at the site to see if there were more bodies.

Earlier in the day, the police found 15 bodies of Iraqi men in an abandoned car in Baghdad's western district of khadra. The victims were apparently tortured with their hands and feet bound, a police source said.

The incidents have stoked fear that sectarian violence might further soar since the Feb. 22 bombing of a major Shiite mosque in the northern Iraqi town of Samarra. Hundreds were killed in several days following the explosion.

(Xinhua News Agency March 15, 2006)