Eleven Shiites killed returning from Hajj pilgrimage

Story Highlights

• NEW: Bush announces revised Iraq strategy, sending 20,000 more troops
• 11 pilgrims killed as they returned from the Hajj in Saudi Arabia
• Authorities say 101 bodies found in and around Baghdad in last two days
• Saddam Hussein co-defendants reportedly face execution "in a matter of days"

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Eleven Shiite pilgrims were ambushed, shot and killed Wednesday as their caravan returned from the Hajj in Saudi Arabia, an Interior Ministry official in Baghdad said.

Fourteen others were wounded during the attack near the town of Nukhaib in Iraq, the official said.

The three vehicles carrying the pilgrims were ambushed in Anbar province, about 125 miles (200 kilometers) north of the border with Saudi Arabia. (Map)

The deadly ambush came as authorities announced that 101 bodies were found Tuesday and Wednesday in and around Baghdad. The deaths are thought to be the result of sectarian violence.

The Hajj is the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Islam's holiest city. Adult Muslims are required to make the pilgrimage at least once during their lives.

But the journey poses special risks for pilgrims traveling through a nation at war.

Earlier this week, a group of Sunni pilgrims was ambushed and robbed, according to reports. There also were reports that some pilgrims have been kidnapped. Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said he was unable to confirm or deny the attacks.

U.S. President Bush Wednesday announced a plan to increase troops in Iraq by more than 20,000 to help quell violence in Baghdad and Anbar province. (Full story)

An influential group of Sunni scholars in Iraq condemned the new strategy before it was officially announced.

"The inability of 140,000 soldiers to achieve their goals in battle makes it unlikely that another 20,000 will be able to do that," the Association of Muslim Scholars said in a statement on Wednesday.

Iraqi president: Delay executions

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said Wednesday that his government should delay the executions of Saddam Hussein's two co-defendants in light of sectarian tensions and the botched handling of the toppled leader's execution. (Watch how Hussein may go down as a martyr )

"My opinion is that we slow down a bit and take into account the current conditions in the country," said Talabani, a Kurd, in referring to the brutal sectarian divide between Iraq's Sunni Arabs and Shiites.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Tuesday that Barzan Hassan, Hussein's half brother and former intelligence chief, and Awad Bandar, former head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court, are expected to be hanged in a "matter of days."

"We have some logistical issues," al-Dabbagh said. "The government is determined to carry out the sentence."

Along with the dictator, Barzan Hussein and Bandar were sentenced to death for their roles in the 1982 massacre of Shiites in Dujail, north of Baghdad. The crackdown occurred shortly after an assassination attempt against Saddam Hussein.

The 69-year-old former Iraqi ruler was hanged December 30 after an appeals court upheld his conviction in the Dujail deaths.

Bush was upset after viewing an unauthorized video of the execution and compared his emotions to those he felt after seeing photos of the abuse exacted on naked and restrained captives at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad, the White House said Wednesday.

At the execution site, video shot on a cell phone camera and later leaked onto the Internet showed Shiites taunting Hussein, a Sunni, in the moments before his death -- fueling rumors the hanging was an act of revenge against Sunnis.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki sought to dispel such fears Tuesday, calling the video "an isolated act" and saying that an inquiry will result in punishment. (Full story)

At a press conference in Sulaimaniya with Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Talabani reiterated his long-standing opposition to the death penalty and urged reconciliation.

"We must strive especially now that Saddam is executed to be more forgiving with each other," he said.

But he said that Iraq's constitutional ban on Baathists, Hussein's party members, from participating in government should stand.

Meanwhile, Iraq's national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, visited Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and Ayatollah Mohammed Saeed al-Hakeem in Najaf and said he had won their backing on the disarmament of militias.

Al-Sistani "insisted that the weapons should be only in the hand of the government forces, and the law should be applied on all the Iraqi citizens with no exception," al-Rubaie said.

Some militias -- such as radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army -- are suspected to be behind much of the country's sectarian violence.

UNICEF staffer, U.S. soldiers killed

A UNICEF employee has been killed in Baghdad, the agency said in a news release Tuesday.

Janan Jabero, 52, was shot while driving, the U.N. children's agency said, citing initial reports from local authorities. The agency described him as "a brilliant engineer and ... a key part of UNICEF's school rehabilitation program in Iraq since 1999."

In addition, three U.S. soldiers were killed Tuesday -- two in Anbar province and another in Diyala province, the U.S. military said Wednesday.

The U.S. military has suffered 3,010 fatalities in the Iraq war; seven civilian military contractors also have died. Thirteen U.S. troops have died in January.

CNN's Sam Dagher and Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report.

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