IRAQ WAR \ Latest developments

The latest developments in Iraq:
Iraqi authorities executed 13 men by hanging Tuesday after they were convicted of murder and kidnapping, lining them up in hoods and green jumpsuits with their hands bound behind their backs. The government executed the men after an appeals court and the presidency approved the verdict, said Busho Ibrahim, undersecretary of the Justice Ministry. "They included terrorists and other criminals convicted of abduction and murder as well as assassination plots in several provinces," he said.
The U.S. military announced the death of a Marine in the insurgent stronghold of Anbar province, bringing to 61 the number of American military personnel killed in December. Some 2,950 U.S. troops have been killed since the U.S.-led 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Police said they found 53 bodies around Baghdad on Tuesday, apparent victims of violence between Sunnis and Shiites. Many of the bodies showed signs of torture.
Three children were killed when mortar rounds hit their village near Baqouba, and seven civilians were wounded in a mortar attack nearby, police said. North of the city, five insurgents were killed in clashes with U.S. and Iraqi forces, Iraqi officials said. Also in Baqouba, insurgents attacked a police patrol, killing two officers.
A suicide bomber blew up near an American convoy in Mosul, wounding two civilians, police said. A Shiite university student was killed in a drive-by shooting in the city.
In southern Baghdad, two civilians were killed and seven were wounded by mortar rounds, and a roadside bomb killed two civilians and wounded nine near an electricity plant, police said.
Source: Associated Press