(17 July 07 - RV ) The bodies of twenty-nine villagers gunned down in by men dressed in Iraqi military uniforms, were found today. A police spokesman said a large group of gunmen surrounded a village in the Diyala province north of Baghdad and killed men, women and children. Meanwhile, the political bloc allied to Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr has said it has ended its boycott of parliament. The 30 legislators pulled out after an important Shia shrine in Samarra was bombed for a second time in a June attack. Iran and the United States will meet shortly to discuss security in Iraq, to follow up a landmark meeting held in May.
The Iraqi Foreign Minister SAID The worsening chaos has pushed the two countries, which have not had diplomatic ties since shortly after Iran's 1979 revolution, to seek common ground on Iraq.
Erik Leavey is a research fellow at the Washington dc based institute for Policy studies.
He spoke to us about what is creating the sectarian violence…