In brief: 50 bodies found near Baghdad

BAGHDAD – Iraqi officials discovered 50 bodies in an agricultural area outside a city south of Baghdad on Wednesday, raising concerns over a possible sectarian killing amid the battle against a Sunni insurgency.

The lightning sweep by the militants over much of northern and western Iraq the past month has dramatically hiked tensions between the country’s Shiite majority and Sunni minority. At the same time, splits have grown between the Shiite-led government in Baghdad and the Kurdish autonomous region in the north.

In an address Wednesday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki accused the Kurdish zone of being a haven for the Islamic extremists and other Sunni insurgents. He did not provide any evidence, and the claims are likely to only further strain Baghdad’s ties with the Kurds, whose fighters have been battling the militant advance in the north.

The bodies, all of them with gunshot wounds, were found in the predominantly Shiite village of Khamissiya outside the city of Hillah, said military spokesman Brig. Gen. Saad Maan Ibrahim.

More Afghan civilians die in ground combat

BAGHDAD – Accelerating a grim trend in the evolving war in Afghanistan, civilian casualties rose sharply in the first half of this year due to heavier ground combat between government forces and insurgents in populated areas, the United Nations reported Tuesday.

Through the end of June, the U.N. mission in Afghanistan documented 1,564 civilian deaths and 3,289 injured. The total represented a 24 percent increase over the same period last year and was particularly devastating for children, whose casualties as a result of ground operations more than doubled.

Vatican bank head touts ‘ethical’ focus

VATICAN CITY – The newly appointed head of the Vatican’s bank, the Institute for Religious Works, pledged on Wednesday to focus on “ethical investment,” as part of plans to clean up the scandal-plagued institution.

Over the decades, the Vatican bank has been involved in a long list of financial scandals.

“Catholic, ethical investment will drive how we will be managing assets on behalf of our clients,” said French financier Jean-Baptiste de Franssu, the new bank president.