Guerrilla attack kills 24 Shiites

Saddam Hussein has been on a hunger strike.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Gunmen seized two dozen Shiites from a bus station after separating them from the crowd in a predominantly Sunni area Wednesday, killing them and dumping their bodies in a nearby village -- the latest in a series of brazen attacks.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appealed for unity and warned the nation's future was at stake. "We all have the last chance to reconcile and agree among each other on avoiding conflict and blood. If we fail, God forbid, I don't know what the fate of Iraq will be," he told parliament.
The gunmen arrived in several cars at the bus station in Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad, about 6 a.m., forcing the captives into four vehicles they commandeered at the scene, officials said.
The bloodied bodies of the victims, who were handcuffed, blindfolded and shot in the head, were found behind a pile of small rocks near the main street of Azham village, police said.
Some of the dead had their hands clasped. Relatives weeped over loved ones, with one man leaning over an open coffin and kissing the hand of a victim.
Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Awad, commander of the Iraqi army's 5th division, told state-run television the attackers separated Shiites from Sunnis, then took the Shiites to the nearby village of Ballour, an account supported by witnesses.
Wednesday's attack coincided with an unannounced visit to Iraq by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who said the new Iraqi government is not yet ready to decide on security issues that will determine the pace of U.S. troop reductions this year.
Other news
In related news, Iraq's prime minister called Wednesday for a review of legislation that gives foreign troops immunity from prosecution, expressing concern that U.S. soldiers sometimes act knowing that they are protected from punishment.
"Those who are free from being punished misbehave and they have misbehaved a lot. They misbehaved in Mahmoudiya, in Sadr City, in Abu Ghraib and in Haditha," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said, referring to places where U.S. troops have been accused of abusing or killing Iraqis.
Al-Maliki was responding to a question by a legislator about the alleged March 12 rape and killing of an Iraqi girl in Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad, by U.S. soldiers who also were accused of killing her family.
In other news, Saddam Hussein and three of his co-defendants have been on a hunger strike for nearly a week to protest what the defense says is a lack of security for their attorneys, the U.S. military said Wednesday.
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