Another Day of Carnage in Iraq

Insurgents slaughtered another 47 Iraqis on Sunday, including 23 members of a small religious minority dragged from a bus and gunned down by the roadside, security officials said.

The latest day of carnage came as the United States military said it would press on with plans to wall in Baghdad's worst neighbourhoods despite criticism from residents and many Iraqi leaders.

An American commander also announced plans to recruit more than 40 000 new troops into Iraq's armed forces in 2007 as part of a $14-billion plan for developing the war-torn country's security forces.

Unidentified gunmen dragged 23 members of northern Iraq's Yazidi religious minority from a bus and shot them dead by the roadside, said police Brigadier General Mohammed el-Waqa'a.

"Workers were travelling back from a textile plant in Mosul to their home in Bashika, east of the city," he said. "Several gunmen stopped the buses, chose the Yazidi among the passengers and killed them in front of everybody."