Iraqi government officials reported that 16,273 Iraqi civilians, soldiers and police died violent deaths in 2006.
The tabulation by the Iraqi ministries of Health, Defense and Interior, showed that 14,298 civilians, 1,348 police and 627 soldiers were killed in the violence that raged in the country last year. Earlier, the United Nations has said as many as 100 Iraqis die violently each day, which translates into 36,500 deaths annually.
On the first day of the New Year, Iraqi Police reported finding the 40 handcuffed, blindfolded and bullet-riddled bodies in Baghdad. A police official said 15 of the bodies were discovered in the mainly industrial Sheik Omar district of northern Baghdad.
An Iraqi worker for the Algerian Embassy in Baghdad was shot to death, police said.
Additionally, six Iraqis were killed in a U.S.-led raid on the Baghdad offices of a top Sunni politician, Saleh al-Mutlaq. The U.S. military and Iraqi police said they suspected the offices were being used as an al-Qaeda safe house. Al-Mutlaq is a senior member of the National Dialogue Front, which holds 11 of the 275 seats in Iraq's parliament.
Meanwhile in Samarra, a mob on Monday broke the locks off a bomb-damaged Shiite shrine and marched through carrying a mock coffin and photo of Saddam Hussein. The demonstration took place in the Golden Dome, shattered in a bombing by Sunnis 10 months ago.
In a Sunni neighborhood in northern Baghdad, hundreds of demonstrators mourned the executed leader. In Dor, 77 miles north of Baghdad, hundreds more took to the streets to attend the dedication of a giant mosaic of Saddam.
Mourners at a mosque in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit slaughtered sheep as a sacrifice. The mosque's walls were lined with condolence cards from tribes in southern Iraq and Jordan who were unable to travel to the memorial.
Saddam's eldest daughter briefly attended a protest Monday in Jordan - her first public appearance since her father was hanged. "God bless you, and I thank you for honoring Saddam, the martyr," said Raghad Saddam Hussein, according to two witnesses. She addressed members of the Professional Associations - an umbrella group of unions representing doctors, engineers and lawyers - in the group's office parking lot in west Amman.
