BAGHDAD, March 14: Bodies of at least 80 people apparently killed in sectarian attacks have been found in Baghdad since early Monday, after more than 50 people died in multiple car bombs in a Shia militia stronghold.

The bodies, many of them bound and bearing signs of torture, included 29 found by a group of children playing soccer, and 15 strangled men left in an abandoned vehicle.

The unusually high number of bodies for a short period came to light as Iraqi leaders, under strong pressure from Washington, failed to make a breakthrough on Tuesday in coalition talks aimed at halting the slide towards civil war.

Following the Feb 22 bombing of a shrine in Samarra that led to days of bloodshed, officials expressed fears that another large-scale attack could set off an all-out sectarian conflict.

On Sunday, car bombs ripped through crowded markets in Baghdad’s eastern district of Sadr City, a stronghold of radical Shia leader Moqtada al Sadr.

Moqtada Sadr, a rising kingmaker in the ruling Shia United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), urged his followers on Monday not to retaliate for the car bombs and has denied running death squads.

The dumping of bodies tortured and killed execution-style has long been a feature of Iraq’s violence.

The number of such incidents has risen sharply since the Samarra bombing.

CHILDREN FIND BODIES: Police said they dug up 29 unidentified bodies, most of them with gunshot wounds, in Baghdad’s Kamaliya district after a group of children playing soccer smelled the corpses.

“Some children were playing soccer and they smelled something strong and the police were notified. They were buried in one large pit,” said a police official.

Some appeared to have been tortured and killed in the past few days, police said, adding they had been shot, gagged and bound — typical of victims of sectarian violence.

Others appeared to have been killed a week to 10 days ago, police said. Two other corpses were found nearby, he said.

Earlier, police found the bodies of 15 people bound and strangled in a vehicle in western Baghdad.

In addition, Baghdad hospitals received the bodies of 40 people killed in separate incidents in the 24 hours since early Monday. A hospital source said all had been shot.

In another incident underlining the lawlessness gripping the country, gunmen shot dead the editor of a weekly near his home in Baghdad — the third killing of an Iraqi journalist in a week.

COALITION TALKS: In the first of a series of U.S.-backed intensive meetings, the four main blocs in parliament held talks on Tuesday in the hope of reaching a deal on forming a government of national unity, regarded as the best chance of avoiding a bloodbath.

Putting on an optimistic face after failing to reach a breakthrough that few expected, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani described talks between Shias, Sunnis, Kurds and secular leaders as ‘friendly’.

Standing next to the heads of the four main parliamentary blocs, Mr Talabani told reporters they had agreed to form a committee to continue the talks.

“We are walking towards forming a government.”

Iraqi officials acknowledge in private they are running out of time and a senior source in the main Sunni political group said: “Nobody is willing to compromise.”

US President George Bush on Monday urged leaders to ‘reach out across religious and sectarian lines’ to form a unity government.—Reuters