Iraqi Shi'ite militias use hit lists to pick off foes - police

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Shi'ite militias have drawn up hit lists of suspected Sunni insurgents to be kidnapped, executed and hung in public, security and police officials said, raising the stakes in a sectarian war tearing the country apart.

The militias became a vital line of defence for the Shi'ite-led government after the army collapsed in the face of a June advance by Sunni Islamic State militants who seized large swathes of land in the north and aim to march on Baghdad.