The bloodbath has begun at the Daily News.

At least three dozen newsroom staffers were axed from late Tuesday through Wednesday afternoon — with well-known columnist Mike Lupica heading to the exit and columnist Bill Hammond cut — as owner Mort Zuckerman embarked on a vicious cost-cutting mission.

While no department seemed to be spared, the sports section took the brunt of the cuts, with nine reporters and editors getting tossed, including Bill Madden, Filip Bondy and Teri Thompson, the sports editor.

The staff was said to be in shock, with many in tears, as one by one those about to be let go were called in to meet with Human Resources personnel — before being escorted from the building.

Security staff were spotted at several desks collecting the belongings of those who were pink-slipped.

The siege isn’t over as the cuts are expected to extend into Thursday, sources said.

While the massive reductions at the money-losing daily were expected — total circulation, including print and digital, has fallen 41 percent over the 12 months ended in March amid widening losses, after all — the large number of cuts in the sports section had the jaws of seasoned journalists dropping.

Lupica appeared headed to the door after rejecting Zuckerman’s low-ball offer on a new contract, sources said.

Lupica is one of the highest-paid editorial staffers on a paper that is said to have lost roughly $30 million last year. Unless a last-minute deal is reached, he will depart before year-end.

For others in sports — like Thompson, Hall of Fame baseball writer Madden, Bondy, Hank Gola, Wayne Coffey, Roger Rubin and Stephen Lorenzo — the exit will be quicker, sources told The Post.

Like immediate.

“The News always used to be read back to front — like the Torah,” said one observer, reached after word that nine sports section staffers were let go. “It looks like they gave up the franchise.”

Also getting axed were Assistant News Editor Jill Coffey, Deputy Political Editor Ellen Tumposky and senior Washington correspondent Dan Friedman.

They join Editor-in-Chief Colin Myler as victims of Zuckerman’s budget ax.

Myler, who earned $1.5 million a year, sources told The Post, is being replaced by Executive Editor Jim Rich, the paper confirmed.

Under Myler, the teetering tabloid transitioned from making money to hemorrhaging lots of it.

Combined print and digital circulation losses of 40.7 percent in the year-over-year period ended March 31, to 312,73, according to the Alliance for Audited Media, were the worst in the paper’s 97-year history. Print circulation fell 40 percent under

Myler’s four-year tenure, to 239,183 as of March.

Oddly, Myler on Wednesday was roaming the newsroom as if everything were A-OK, one source said.

“Nobody has been told what is going on,” said one insider. “Myler’s walking around like nothing is wrong.”

Zuckerman tried to sell the paper this summer, but pulled it off the market last month. Bids were as low as $1.