Iraqi security forces found the handcuffed and blindfolded bodies of at least 50 men in a town south of Baghdad on Wednesday.

The men were discovered in the village of Khamissiya, whose residents are predominantly Shiite Muslim. They were all 25 to 40 years old and seemed to have died several days ago from gunshots to the head or chest. Iraqi officials are investigating the incident, but little is known about the victims or perpetrators.

Khamissiya hasn't seen much sectarian violence between Shiites and Sunnis, but bloody battles between the Muslim sects have taken place just a few miles north of town, even south of Baghdad. Violence throughout Iraq has increased as a group of Sunni radicals called the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have taken over the majority of the west and north of the country over the past month.

Some Shiites, who mostly reside in the south, have countered by taking up arms against Sunnis. Shiite militias have rounded up and executed Sunnis they believe are associated with terrorism in a display of violence similar to the worst sectarian warfare that occurred in the mid-late 2000s during the nation's civil war.

The civilian death toll in Iraq has risen sharply in 2014, especially in June. More than 7,000 Iraqi civilians have already died this year, compared with 9,488 in all of 2013 and 4,600 in 2012. Nearly 2,000 Iraqi civilians died last month alone.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press

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