At Least 23 Iraqis Die in Weekend Attacks

Attacks on police and their families continue, but still no word on the fate of Jill Carroll. From AP:

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades at a policeman's home northeast of Baghdad on Sunday, killing his four children and his brother and raising to at least 23 the number of Iraqis killed in attacks this weekend.

Also Sunday, police found the bullet-riddled bodies of nearly two dozen men abducted last week north of Baghdad after being rejected entry into a police academy, officials said.

On Monday, a suicide car bomber targeted an Iraqi police patrol near the heavily fortified Green Zone on Monday, killing two people and wounding five, police said.

The blast happened at about 10:10 a.m. near a checkpoint into the Green Zone, which houses the Iraqi government and the U.S. Embassy. Another explosion was heard about 20 minutes later, but its source or location were not immediately known.

Also Monday, the U.S. military announced that a roadside bomb blast killed two U.S. airmen and wounded another Sunday near Taji, 12 miles north of Baghdad. At least 2,226 U.S. military personnel have been killed since the Iraq war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The violence continued as Iraq's political parties began gearing up for talks on a new coalition government that U.S. officials hope will win the confidence of disaffected Sunni Arabs and undermine support for the insurgency. That would hasten the time when U.S. and other foreign troops can go home.

There was still no word on the fate of kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll two days after a deadline set by her captors. They had threatened to kill the 28-year-old freelancer for The Christian Science Monitor unless all Iraqi women detainees were freed.

Iraqi officials have said they expect the Americans to free six of the nine women they are holding this week. U.S. authorities have not confirmed the claim...