Insurgents kill 21 Shiite men

Twenty-one men were shot by gunmen in front of their relatives on Friday night in the Shiite village of Balad Ruz, 70 kilometres northeast of Baghdad.

Police said that the attack by suspected insurgents targeted members of the Al Sawed Shiite tribe. Apolice source said that police could not reach the remote town until Saturday morning to pick up the bodies.

The Diyala province, in which the village is located, is a flashpoint for insurgency and the site of many sectarian attacks.

In an effort to curb violence since 215 people were killed by five bombings and two mortar rounds in the Shiite area of Sadr city on Thursday, a curfew was imposed on Baghdad.

Suspected Shiite milita men kidnapped six Sunnis as the left Friday prayers and burnt them alive.