The US military said today it had found five Iraqis who had been kidnapped and tortured by militants.
The four unidentified men and the boy were found during raids against an al-Qaeda network in Garma, about 30 kilometres west of Baghdad in Anbar province, a Sunni Arab insurgency stronghold.
They were found inside a padlocked room and had been beaten with chains, cables and hoses, the US military said. "The boy stated the terrorists had hooked electrical wires to his tongue and shocked him," it said.
Elsewhere, militants kidnapped and killed a journalist from one of Iraq's most popular national newspapers in southern Baghdad yesterday, his employers said today.
Mr Ali Khalil (21) worked for the Azzamannewspaper and had just left a relative's home in the Bayaa district when militants kidnapped him. His body was found a few hours later. He was the 105th journalist to be killed in Iraq since hostilities started four years ago.
A mortar shell exploded on the roof of Iraq's parliament building in the Green Zone compound in Baghdad today, but no injuries were reported.
Iraq's UN ambassador today urged the American people not to abandon his country and to "redouble" their commitment instead.