Many die in fresh Iraqi violence
Baghdad has been under curfew for two days but violence continues
US forces say they have killed 22 militants in renewed violence in Iraq, despite a curfew imposed on the capital in response to recent killings.
US forces say they killed 10 insurgents in a raid on a bomb-making facility north of Baghdad, and 12 in a convoy.
Elsewhere, the bodies of 21 Iraqi villagers were discovered north-east of Baghdad in Diyala province.
President Jalal Talabani has had to postpone a much-anticipated trip to Iran, as Baghdad＇s airport is closed.
Mr Talabani had been due to meet Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for talks on Iraq＇s security situation.
An Iranian news agency is now reporting that he will leave Baghdad for Iran on Sunday, provided the airport reopens.
Separately, US Vice-President Dick Cheney has arrived in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, for talks with King Abdullah on the situation in the Middle East, particularly Iraq.
Dragged from their homes
Police in Diyala province say gunmen raided the homes of two Shia families, dragged out 21 males and shot them dead.
The bodies were found early on Saturday.
It is thought the youngest victim was a 12-year-old boy.
Moqtada Sadr＇s group is calling for US forces to leave
The attack took place in a village 80km (50 miles) north-east of Baghdad.
The US military said the 22 insurgents killed by its forces died in clashes to the north of Baghdad.
Ten insurgents died in a raid on a bomb-making factory in the town of Taji, it said, while a teenage boy was killed in the crossfire and a pregnant woman was wounded.
US forces said they had discovered caches of rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns, pipe bombs and anti-aircraft weapons in the area. These were later destroyed in an air strike.
In another incident, US forces said they had killed 12 insurgents in a convoy of cars that ignored warning shots.
One of the dead men was said to have been wanted for making car bombs.
Cycle of attacks
Earlier this week, at least 230 people were killed in two days of violence in Baghdad.
In one incident, gunmen attacked Hurriya, a Sunni Arab area of Baghdad, burning mosques and homes, and at least 30 people were reported killed.
Several blasts struck Sadr City in quick succession
The attacks were in apparent revenge for Thursday＇s bombings that killed more than 200 people in the Shia Sadr City district of the Iraqi capital.
There is a real feeling that the situation is moving to the brink amid the cycle of attacks, says the BBC＇s David Loyn in Baghdad.
To add to the Iraqi government＇s woes, a key Shia group loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr threatened to quit parliament and the cabinet if the prime minister goes ahead with a planned meeting with US President George W Bush next week.
The withdrawal of the group headed by Mr Sadr would deal a major blow to an already unstable government.
In a sermon on Friday, the young cleric appealed for Muslim unity, but also demanded that the leading religious figure from the Sunni minority issue a fatwa against al-Qaeda members.
Moqtada al-Sadr＇s Mehdi Army militia dominates the sprawling Sadr City slum in east Baghdad.
The entire city is under curfew, including the airport.
Thursday＇s multiple car bomb attacks in Sadr City - in which 250 people were also wounded - were the deadliest in Iraq since the US-led invasion of 2003.
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