Gunmen Slay 25 in Iraqi Village

A group of gunmen wearing army uniforms killed 25 people in a village south of Baghdad before dawn on Saturday, while Iraq’s dominant parties work to form a coalition government following the country’s elections. All 25 men and women, who appear to have been tortured, were from families connected to an anti-al-Qaeda militia and 17 people have been arrested. "Our information is that the killers were from al Qaeda," said a Baghdad security spokesman. The families were all members of the Jubur tribe, which supported al Qaeda as late as 2007 before switching allegiance. Many then joined the Sahwa movement and helped American and Iraqi forces fight against terrorism.