Bloodbath rages in Iraq

Baghdad: Gunmen killed 21 Shiites as tit-for-tat violence raged across Iraq and President Jalal Talabani was forced to delay a trip to Tehran.

Police said gunmen on Friday raided two homes in a mostly Shiite village in strife-torn Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, dragged out 21 males and shot them execution style. The youngest victim was 12. The bodies were found yesterday.

US and Iraqi forces also killed 58 insurgents during fighting north of the capital, US military and police said.

The Baghdad airport was also closed following a curfew, forcing Talabani to postpone his trip to Tehran where he had been expected to discuss the country's security situation with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Talabani said that he will make the trip when the airport reopens.

Heralding a new diplomatic thrust into the Middle East by Washington, US Vice-President Dick Cheney arrived in Riyadh yesterday for talks with Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz on regional issues, particularly Iraq.

Cheney's visit will pave the way for a meeting between President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki in Jordan on November 29.

In Baghdad, a UN envoy urged Iraq's government to halt a slide into civil war and stop the "cancer" of sectarianism from destroying the country. The UN's special representative for Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, in a statement said "blind acts of revenge" were part of a vicious cycle of sectarian violence "tearing apart the very political and social fabric of Iraq".

The Organisation of Islamic Conference also called a halt to the bloodbath, reminding Iraqi religious leaders of their pledge to prohibit the shedding of Muslim blood.

Meanwhile, an Arab League official in Cairo said foreign ministers from the 22-member organisation are expected to meet in Cairo on December 5 to call on Iraqi factions to end the "cascades of blood in Iraq".

In Cairo, leading Iraqi Sunni cleric Harith Al Dhari called on Arab countries to withdraw their recognition of Iraq's government.

"I call on Arab governments which have supported the political process in Iraq to withdraw their recognition and support for this government," he told reporters, describing the Al Maliki cabinet as a "government of occupation".