This past weekend saw another surge in violent killings. North of Baghdad, masked gun assassinated 21 students — reportedly all Shiites — who were stopped at a fake checkpoint. In Basra, a suicide car bomber killed 32 people and wounded 77 — the attack came just days after the Iraqi government declared a state of emergency in the southern city. In Baghdad, officials discovered 22 bodies that had been burned, blindfolded, handcuffed and thrown into a river. Earlier today, gunmen wearing police uniforms raided bus stations in central Baghdad, abducting at least 50 people.