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Big Surprise: Iraq Violence Continues

According to reports, the head of a security firm is among 50 employees captured by gunmen dressed in Iraqi police uniforms. News agencies are reporting that the raid at al-Rawafed`s offices took place on Wednesday in the eastern Zayouna district of Baghdad.

The incident follows the discovery of 20 bodies inside a minibus in a mostly Sunni area of the city. Two of the men had been bound and shot, while the others had been strangled. None of the bodies had identification papers on them. They appeared to be foreign Arabs.

The bombing of a Shia shrine last month has led to a rise in sectarian violence in Iraq. Whether or not this will lead to a full-scale civil war, or just increase the number of attacks in Iraq`s relatively low-level civil war, remains to be seen.