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At least 39 die in Iraq's daily toll

BAGHDAD - At least 39 people were killed by insurgents and shadowy sectarian gangs, police reported Monday, continuing the wave of violence since the bombing of a Shiite Muslim shrine.

Police found the bodies of at least 15 more people - including a 13-year-old girl - dumped in and near Baghdad. Execution-style killings have become an almost daily event as Sunni and Shiite extremists settle scores.

Sectarian killings have swept across Iraq since the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite Muslim shrine in Samarra. An Associated Press tally, including the deaths reported Monday, put the toll at 993 since the golden dome of the Askariya shrine was left in rubble.

Among those killed in scattered violence Monday were 10 policemen.

BAGHDAD - Residents gave new details Monday about the shootings of civilians in a western Iraqi town, where the U.S. military is investigating allegations of potential misconduct by American troops in November.

The residents said troops entered homes and killed 15 members of two families, including a 3-year-old girl, after a roadside bomb killed a U.S. Marine.

The military, which announced Friday that a dozen Marines are under investigation for possible war crimes in the Nov. 19 incident, said Monday that a videotape of the aftermath of the shootings in Hadithah, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, was presented in support of the allegations.

The charges against the Marines were first brought forward by Time magazine, which reported this week that it obtained a videotape two months ago taken by a Hadithah journalism student that shows the dead still in their nightclothes.

Also in Iraq ..

JOURNALIST CASUALTIES: More journalists and media staffers have been killed during the Iraq war than during any conflict since World War II, Reporters Without Borders said Monday. The Paris media advocacy group said 84 reporters and media staffers have been killed in Iraq, while 63 journalists were killed during 22 years of conflict in Vietnam.

TROOP LEVELS: U.S. troop levels in Iraq may temporarily bump higher this year, even as Iraqi forces take control of larger portions of the country, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday. He said events may prompt U.S. military leaders to increase troop strength for short periods, just as they did during a recent Shiite religious observance.

[Last modified March 21, 2006, 02:30:40]