Gunmen kill 42 soldiers in Iraq

At least 42 soldiers have been killed in separate attacks in the Iraqi cities of Fallujah and Mosul.

Fighters kidnapped troops from a small base in Ain al-Jahash, south of Mosul, on Saturday, and later shot them dead. Their bodies were found an hours after the initial attack.

A medical official said 11 troops had their hands tied behind their backs and suffered close-range gunshots to the head.

In a separate incident, 22 soldiers who had been kidnapped in Fallujah on Friday were killed on Saturday night.

The killings come as the country suffers a protracted surge in bloodshed, the worst the country has experienced since the brutal sectarian fighting that peaked in 2006-2007 and killed tens of thousands of people.

The government has blamed the upsurge in violence on external factors, such as the civil war in Syria, but analysts say there is also widespread resentment among the Sunni Arab community over alleged mistreatment by the Shia-led government.

The government has been involved in heavy fighting with rebels in Fallujah, where groups including the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have a foothold.