More than 40 people were killed or found dead in Baghdad on Wednesday, two days after the lifting of a curfew for Saddam Hussein's death verdict.

Several mortar rounds landed on a soccer field in Baghdad's Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City at dusk, killing eight people and wounding 20 others, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.

"The mortar rounds shelled the soccer field as a game was in progress, leaving eight people killed and 20 others injured," the source who asked to remain anonymous said.

Mortar rounds also rocked Sunni district of al-Azamiyah in northern Baghdad, killing one people and injuring 20 others, according to the same source. On Tuesday, this district also became the target of mortar attacks, with 5 people killed and 20 injured.

Twenty-nine unidentified bodies were discovered in different neighborhoods across the capital on Wednesday, a police source told Xinhua.

The bodies were bound and blindfolded, with signs of torture, apparently the latest victims of rampant sectarian violence, the source said.

In the district of Iskam in western Baghdad, a car bomb went off while police was trying to defuse it, killing one policeman and injuring three others.

In other violence, at least five people were killed and 26 others injured in a series of car bombs and mortar barrages in Baghdad.

The latest bloodshed came two days after the lifting of a curfew, which was imposed to avoid probable violence following Saddam's death verdict.

The ousted president was sentenced to death by hanging on Sunday by Iraqi High Tribunal, which unleashed the fear of a spasm of attacks.

On Sunday and Monday, the capital was relatively calm due to the curfew, with few violence reported.

However, following the lifting of the curfew on Tuesday morning, the capital become volatile again. Mortar attacks and a suicide bomber killed at least 17 people and injured 40 others on that day.

Analysts said the unabated violence seemed to show that Saddam verdict could hardly bring peace to the war-torn country.

(Xinhua News Agency November 9, 2006)