Three journalists killed in Iraq

BBC

Three Iraqi journalists working for al-Arabiya TV have been killed near Samarra, a day after a bomb attack damaged a Shia shrine in the city.
Police said the three were kidnapped and killed after they went to report on Wednesday's attack, which destroyed the golden dome of the al-Askari shrine.

In Baghdad, police say they have recovered the bullet-ridden bodies of 50 people overnight.

Iraq's leaders are warning publicly about the dangers of a civil war.

Dozens of Sunni mosques have been attacked following the blast in Samarra, and at least 11 people were killed after gunmen entered a prison in the southern city of Basra.

Police say the victims in Basra were suspected Sunni militants, including several foreigners.

A spokesman for Iraq's top Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said the anger may be hard to contain.

"You wouldn't expect an abrupt or sudden calm, because there are some people whose reaction you can't control," London-based spokesman Fadel Bahar al-Eloum told the BBC.