Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Five people were killed and two others injured on Monday when a mortar round struck a house in southern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

    "A mortar round landed on a house in the Saidiyah neighborhood, killing five people and wounding two others," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    Separately, six unidentified bodies were found in the Hay al-Amil neighborhood, in southwestern Baghdad, the source said. The bullet-riddled bodies were bound and blindfolded, showing signs of torture, he said.

    Violence persists in Baghdad despite the presence of tens of thousands of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers across the capital in a major security crackdown aimed at curbing insurgency and sectarian violence in the war-torn country.