BAGHDAD, Nov 3: Police in Baghdad found 56 bodies and a severed head over the past 24 hours in various parts of the capital, the highest daily figure since the end of Ramazan, an Interior Ministry source said on Friday.

While not unprecedented, the number represents a sharp rise since last week when US forces were out in force throughout the city hunting for a missing US soldier.

The body count in Baghdad on Wednesday was 35 and the daily figure was generally lower in the previous week. On Oct 22 the interior ministry source reported 50 bodies found in 24 hours.

US troops lifted roadblocks around the Shia slum district of Sadr City on Tuesday when Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered them out, flexing his political muscle after a week of public friction with Washington ahead of US elections.

The checkpoints, part of a massive US search for the missing soldier, had brought gridlock to several parts of the city and drawn the ire of people in the Shia slum district of Sadr City who complained of collective punishment.

Sunni Arab leaders, however, warned that lifting them could lead to a surge in sectarian killing by Shia militias.

US Major General William Caldwell said on Thursday the number of sectarian killings had fallen in the past week, following a surge during Ramazan.

He attributed last week’s drop to a combination of the end of Ramazan, calls by clerics and politicians for calm and the greater U.S. troop presence in Baghdad.—Reuters