Insurgents kill 4 children in Iraq

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.

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.

U.S. soldiers, meanwhile, killed three gunmen firing from several cars north of Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad, on Saturday, the military said Sunday. Six Iraqis were detained and soldiers destroyed four cars after one was found rigged for use as a car bomb.

Also Sunday, a U.S. official said members of Saddam’s ousted regime, including some in custody, may testify when the trial against the ex-leader and seven other defendants resumes Tuesday. The official did not identify the expected witnesses and briefed reporters on condition of anonymity due to security measures surrounding the trial.

Saddam and the others are charged in the 1982 massacre of more than 140 Shiites in Dujail following an assassination attempt against the former Iraqi leader. The official said the next session is expected to last three days.