Baghdad morgue hits new high

BAGHDAD, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- The Baghdad morgue took in 1,815 bodies in July, an all-time high since the war began, Iraqi officials say.

Abdul Razzaq al-Obeidi, the facility's assistant manager, estimated as many as 90 percent died violent deaths, the Washington Post reported. He put the previous month's toll at 1,595.

The U.S. military meanwhile opened the second phase of a U.S.-Iraq crackdown aimed at making the capital safer.

Sectarian violence has stunned Baghdad since late February. Shiite militiamen stage almost nightly raids on Sunnis and Sunni insurgents often bomb Shiite mosques.

A U.N. report on body counts at the morgue and hospitals indicated more than 100 people were being killed every day.