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Nine more bodies found in BaghdadGeneral: Insurgents have abundant ammo supply
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OPERATION SWARMERTarget: Insurgents operating northeast of Samarra Forces: Initially, 1,500 Iraqi and coalition troops, 200-plus tactical vehicles, 50-plus aircraft Outlook: Operation expected to continue for days, with thorough searches planned Results: Weapons caches already found, including stocks of artillery shells, explosives and bomb-making materials, as well as military uniforms Source: U.S. Defense Department SPECIAL REPORT
• Interactive: Who's who in Iraq
• Interactive: Sectarian divide
• Timeline: Bloodiest days for civilians
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- As the war in Iraq entered its fourth year Monday, the bodies of nine people -- all killed by shots to their heads -- were found in various locations around Baghdad, according to an official with the emergency police. The official said the latest discoveries bring to 186 the number of bodies found in Baghdad over the last eight days. As the number of killings has increased, so has fear that the country could be slipping into a civil war. (Full story) Attacks on Sunnis and Shiites have sparked reprisal killings, and after the February 22 bombing of a revered Shiite shrine, violence seemed to escalate. Also Monday, four people, including two Iraqi police commandos, were killed when a roadside bomb exploded in central Baghdad's Karrada neighborhood at 11:30 a.m., police said. Three people were also wounded in the attack, police said. On the three-year anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion, the general commanding U.S. forces there said Sunday that the stubborn insurgency has access to plenty of ammunition. "Iraq is awash with ammunition," Gen. George Casey told CNN's "Late Edition." "Ammunition buried all around the country. ... It'll be a while before they run out of ammunition." Casey added many of the insurgents' weapons come from inside Iraq. "The military equipment is also here," he added. "A lot of what was the former army's has gone over to the insurgents. "But you don't have truckloads of ammunition being smuggled across the border at night. They are primarily resourced internally." Pentagon officials have caused a stir by saying that Iran is trying to exert its influence on the war, and Casey said he believes the Iranian government is behind an influx of bomb technology into Iraq but stressed he couldn't prove it. Iran reportedly has offered to discuss the situation in Iraq with the United States and has denied helping insurgents. Casey said there is some evidence Iran is involved. "We have very good information that improvised explosive device [homemade bomb] technology is coming from the country of Iran into Iraq destined for Shia insurgent extremist groups," Casey said. "I do not have intelligence to tell me that someone within the Iranian government is behind this." Casey spoke as U.S. and Iraqi troops searched for insurgents in northern Iraq and polls indicated that Americans are dissatisfied with President Bush's Iraq policies. The general said there was no connection between Operation Swarmer and the president's popularity. "Nothing could be further from the truth," he said. "This operation was planned with the Iraqi security forces as intelligence was available. It was an intelligence-based operation. It had nothing to do with politics." The Pentagon has called the operation the largest air assault in Iraq since U.S.-led forces attacked -- three years ago Monday. Casey acknowledged the mission "got a little bit more hype than it truly deserved," but said U.S. and Iraqi troops were accomplishing their mission. On Saturday, the U.S. military said coalition forces had arrested scores of people and confiscated weapons in the search area northeast of Samarra. As of Saturday, 60 people remained in custody out of 80 who were initially detained, according to a spokesman for the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division. The other suspects had been released. The U.S. military reported no casualties or firefights during the first three days of the offensive. (Watch what is being considered a 'quiet' operation -- 1:54) The operation, which began at dawn Thursday with 1,500 U.S. and Iraqi troops, is targeting villages in a rural area of Salaheddin province, where insurgents are believed to be based, according to Iraqi security sources. The region is sparsely populated farmland northeast of Samarra, where the Askariya Mosque, a Shiite shrine, was bombed last month. The February 22 attack set off a wave of Shiite reprisals and Sunni counter-reprisals that caused hundreds of deaths and strikes on mosques, sparking fears of full-blown civil warfare. By Friday, the number of U.S. and Iraqi forces had decreased to 900. Other developmentsCNN's Mohammad Tawfeeq, Mike Mount and Barbara Starr contributed to this report. 
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