Forty-two dumped bodies have been found in different parts of Baghdad over the last 24 hours - many of them shot, bound and showing signs of torture, police sources said on Wednesday.

Mourners pray beside the coffins of people killed after a suicide bomber blew up his vehicle the previous evening, killing 25 people near a car dealership in Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad May 31, 2006. [Reuters]

Most of them were found in eastern Baghdad, the sources added. Twelve were in one place in the Baladiyat district and eight in the nearby Sadr City area of the capital.

The discovery of dumped bodies is common in Iraq, especially since the February bombing of a Shi'ite shrine in the city of Samarra which touched off a wave of sectarian killings and revenge attacks sparking fears of a full-blown civil war.

The new Shi'ite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has vowed to rein in violence that has killed thousands of people since the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003.