Iraq begins execution of death row convicts

Iraqi authorities have hanged 13 prisoners convicted on terror charges following a recommendation by the prime minister to speed up executions of those on death row for terror offences.

The prisoners were executed late on Thursday, the day after the bodies of eight policemen and members of a pro-government Shia militia were found on the side of a highway north of Baghdad.

The Justice Ministry announced the hangings yesterday, alongside several photographs – one showing four men hanging from the gallows.