Gunmen broke into two Shiite homes and killed 21 men in front of their relatives in an Iraqi village, police said Saturday. U.S. and Iraqi forces also killed 58 "insurgents" during fighting north of the capital, they said.
In Diyala province, gunmen raided two Shiite homes Friday night. The attack targeted members of the al-Sawed Shiite tribe in the village of Balad Ruz, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad. 21 men were shot dead.
Also in Diyala, Iraqi police killed 36 "insurgents" and wounded dozens of others during in clashes on Saturday in different areas of the province, police said. And U.S. and Iraqi forces killed 22 "insurgents" and an Iraqi civilian, and destroyed a factory being used to make roadside bombs, during several raids north of Baghdad.
US forces also destroyed a factory used to make roadside bombs, the U.S. military announced.
The civilian was a teenager fatally injured in the fighting in the city of Taji, the site of a major U.S. air base. A pregnant woman also was wounded.
The forces called in U.S. aircraft to destroy the factory after discovering rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns, anti-aircraft weapons and pipe bombs hidden there, the military said.
"Coalition forces strive to mitigate risks to civilians while in pursuit of terrorists. It is always a shame when terrorists hide among civilian women and children, putting them in harm's way," the military said in its statement, according to the AP.
On Friday, at least 87 people were killed or found dead in sectarian violence across Iraq.
The situation forced President Jalal Talabani to delay his planned Saturday departure for Tehran for meetings with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Iranian leader also invited Syrian President Bashar Assad, but it now appeared he would not attend.
