BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Authorities found at least 65 bodies dumped throughout Baghdad on Wednesday, and at least 25 people died in other violence in a setback to the U.S. military's efforts to reduce sectarian strife in Iraq's capital.

Most of the dumped victims had their hands bound and were blindfolded. Most appeared to have been shot to death, and many showed signs of having been tortured.

The apparent resurgence in execution-style killings, which often are associated with sectarian violence and death squads, came as U.S. and Iraqi patrols have been sweeping Baghdad neighborhoods in search of insurgents and sectarian militiamen.

Since Operation Forward Together began Aug. 7, U.S. officials have boasted that such killings in Baghdad declined by more than 50% in August, compared with July.

U.S. officials wouldn't provide specific numbers, however, and have said that their comparison doesn't include victims of car bombings, mortar attacks and other so-called mass-casualty violence.

Statistics released by the Baghdad morgue suggest that the decline in violence from July to August was less than 18%, with 1,529 violent deaths in August and 1,855 in July.

Wednesday's deaths, however, fall into the category the U.S. military is tracking. The daily total was the highest since the security sweeps began and the second highest so far this year.

The most executions -- 80 -- occurred Feb. 23, the day after a Shi'ite mosque was bombed in Samarra, setting off the current round of violence.

Ten of the bodies were found in the Shula neighborhood in western Baghdad and another 10 were found in Sadr City in the east, both Shi'ite Muslim strongholds of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Forty-five of the victims were discovered in predominantly Sunni Arab parts of western Baghdad, including five in the Dora neighborhood, which had been swept by U.S. and Iraqi forces, police said.

U.S. officials said they hadn't been able to verify the reports of the bodies.

Other violence in Baghdad on Wednesday targeted police convoys or stations. At least 14 people were killed and 67 wounded after a car bomb and an improvised explosive device went off near Al Shaab Stadium in east Baghdad at about 10 a.m. The blast appeared to be targeting a police convoy.

Two hours later, a bomb in a parked car exploded near a police patrol from the Zayona station in east Baghdad. Eight officers were killed and 19 civilians were wounded.

Two mortar shells landed on al Rashad police station in southeastern Baghdad, killing an officer and wounding two others, police said. Two more officers were killed when two mortar rounds landed near their station in Baghdad's eastern neighborhood of Mashtal. Three others were injured.

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