Security developments in Iraq, Sept 5

Sept 5 (Reuters) - Following are security and other developments in Iraq reported on Tuesday, as of 1030 GMT:

Asterisk denotes a new or updated item.

*NEAR SUWAYRA - The bodies of five blindfolded men with multiple gunshot wounds and signs of torture were pulled out of the Tigris river near Suwayra, a town south of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

*BAGHDAD - Gunmen killed two Shi'ite pilgrims in the southern Baghdad district of Doura while they were walking to a religious ceremony in Kerbala, police said.

*NEAR LATIFIYA - Gunmen killed one Shi'ite pilgrim and wounded three others near Latifiya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, as they were going to Kerbala to attend a religious ceremony, an Interior Ministry source said.

SAMARRA - Three civilians were killed and six others wounded when two roadside bombs struck a fuel tanker in a residential area in Samarra, 100 km (62 miles) north of Baghdad, witnesses and hospital officials said.

BAGHDAD - Iraqi army and police commandos have detained 22 insurgents and 95 suspected insurgents in the last 24 hours in various areas of Iraq, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

BAGHDAD - Iraq's parliament, in its first session since the summer recess, approved the extension of special powers to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to combat violence. Measures such as curfews and military operations have been in place for the last two years.

*WASHINGTON - A U.S. Army investigator has recommended that four soldiers be court-martialled over the rape and killing of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the slaying of three family members in a town south of Baghdad in March, a lawyer for one of the soldiers said on Tuesday. A guilty verdict could lead to the death penalty.