Mortar barrages and gunfire killed four people and wounded eight others on Monday, while police said they found 17 people in execution-style in the Iraqi capital, an Interior Ministry source said.

"Two waves of mortar rounds landed on Baghdad's southern neighborhood of Baiyaa, killing a civilian and wounding four others," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Several more mortar rounds struck the Doura district in southern the capital, wounding a civilian and causing damages in nearby houses, the source said.

Gunmen killed two people and wounded three others in drive-by shooting in the Baiyaa neighborhood, he said.

In downtown Baghdad, a sniper shot dead a policeman in the Karrada neighborhood, he added.

In addition, the source said that the police patrol found 17 unidentified bodies in Baghdad's neighborhoods during the past 24 hours.

Most of the bodies were handcuffed, blindfolded and showing signs of torture with bullet holes in the chest and the head, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 3, 2007)