  Iraqi residents carry the coffin 
 of one of the 24 civilians who were dragged at a checkpoint and shot 
 "execution style" in Udhaim, 120 km (80 miles) north of Baghdad, June 4, 
 2006. [Reuters] | 
Gunmen dragged passengers off a buses northeast of Baghdad and killed 21 
people, including a dozen high school students. The attackers spared four Sunni 
Arabs in one the worst sectarian atrocities in recent weeks. 
Serwan Shokir, the mayor of Qara Tappah, said one other person was wounded in 
the early morning attack. He said there were 26 people on three mini headed from 
his town to Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. The 12 slain students were 
apparently headed for Baqouba to take exams. 
Of the dead, 19 were Shiite Turkomen and two were Kurds. 
The four Sunni who survived were being question at Qara Tappah police 
station, Shokir said. 
The attack occurred on the outskirts of Diyala province, a mixed region that 
in recent weeks has been transformed into a sectarian powder keg, with attacks 
against Sunni Arab and Shiite Shrines. 
A parliament session was postponed Sunday after Prime Minister Nouri 
al-Maliki again failed to reach a consensus on candidates for the crucial 
ministers who will run the country's armed forces and police. Al-Maliki had 
promised to name candidates for approval by the 275-member parliament despite 
the disagreement, but was apparently persuaded to wait. 
Deputy Parliament Speaker Khalid al-Atiya, a Shiite, said that due to the 
large number of candidates and failure to reach any agreement, the political 
parties decided "to give the prime minister another chance to have more 
negotiations." 
Al-Maliki had engaged in last minute negotiations Sunday with Sunni Arabs, 
Shiites and Kurds in an effort to find a solution. 
Al-Maliki and one of his deputes have staffed the posts of defense, interior 
and minister of state for national security since his government of national 
unity took office two weeks ago. 
Filling the posts is seen as a key step toward al-Maliki's plan for Iraqi 
forces to take control of security from US-led troops in 18 months. 
The Interior Ministry post will go to a Shiite, the Defense Ministry to a 
Sunni Arab in an effort to provide balance on security matters. 
There were conflicting reports Sunday over the fate of four Russian diplomats 
kidnapped in Baghdad. 
An Interior Ministry spokesman on Sunday denied a report that four Russian 
hostages had been released the night before in a raid by Iraqi commandos. A 
senior ministry official Lt. Colonel Falah al-Mohamedawi said earlier that the 
Russian Embassy employees had been freed in a commando raid Saturday 
But Brig. Adnan Abdul Rahman, the ministry's information director, later 
denied they had been released and said "this is not true." 
The Russian Embassy in Baghdad said it had no new information on the 
captives. The Foreign Ministry in Moscow also said it was still trying to verify 
the information, according to the Russian ITAR-Tass news agency. 
On Saturday, gunmen attacked a Russian diplomatic car just after noon, 
killing one Russian foreign service employee and kidnapping four, Russia's 
Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The ministry identified the slain Russian 
as Vitaly Vitalyevich Titov, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. 
The Sunni Arab Iraqi Islamic Party, a main partner in the government, 
condemned the attack and called on the kidnappers to release the Russians 
immediately. It also urged the Iraqi government to take action to secure Baghdad 
and other Iraqi cities and "put an end to these crimes." 
At least 439 foreigners including diplomats have been kidnapped in Iraq since 
the US-led invasion three years ago, according to figures provided earlier this 
month by a US anti-kidnapping task force. Russia opposed the US-led invasion of 
Iraq and has no troops here but maintains a diplomatic presence. 
In the southern city of Basra, a gunbattle broke out after Iraqi police 
surrounded a Sunni Arab mosque early, leaving at least nine people dead. 
The standoff occurred hours after police stormed four Sunni mosques in Iraq's 
second-largest city late Saturday and Sunni clerics called on followers to 
gather in one of the shrines to protect it. 
Basra police said they were searching for suspected militants based inside 
the al-Arab mosque in Basra when gunmen opened fire from within the shrine. 
Iraqi forces also said they arrested six people and found two vehicles packed 
with explosives near the mosque. Six people were arrested. 
In Baghdad, gunmen in a car opened the fire on a minibus carrying 
telecommunications employees to work in the Shiite slum of Sadr City, killing 
four and wounding two, Col. Hassan Challoub said. 
On Saturday, a suicide car bomber blew himself up in a crowded market late in 
Basra, killing 28 people and wounding 62.