Iraq: Shi'ites massacred, car bombs rock Baghdad

Dozens of Shi'ite villagers in the north of Iraq were massacred by Sunni extremists, two officials said Tuesday, while car bombs killed at least a dozen people in Baghdad, including four in a blast across the street from the Iranian Embassy in the heart of the city. Meanwhile, Shi'ite legislators loyal to anti-US cleric Muqtada al-Sadr decided to end their five-week boycott of parliament, one of their leaders said. The Shi'ite protest, along with a separate Sunni boycott, had blocked work on key benchmark legislation demanded by the US. Police Col. Ragheb Radhi al-Omairi said 29 members of a Shi'ite tribe were killed overnight in the Diyala province when dozens of suspected Sunni gunmen raided their village near Muqdadiyah, about 95 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Baghdad. The dead included four women, al-Omairi said.