BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters) - Gunmen in Iraq dragged 24 people, mostly students, from vehicles and shot them dead, police said, as violence raged across the country on Sunday. Iraqi leaders appeared deadlocked on naming new interior and defense ministers seen as critical to restoring stability in a country bloodied by relentless insurgent and sectarian killings.
"(They) dragged them one by one from their cars and executed them," said a police official.
The victims included students on their way to write end of term exams, children and elderly men, said another senior police official in Diyala province, scene of frequent attacks by insurgents waging a campaign of bombings and shootings to topple the U.S.-backed, Shi'ite-led government.
Police said gunmen manning a makeshift checkpoint near Udhaim stopped vehicles approaching the small town 120 km (80 miles) north of Baghdad and killed passengers.
