BAGHDAD, Iraq – Insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades at a policeman’s home northeast of Baghdad yesterday, killing his four children and his brother and raising to at least 23 the number of Iraqis killed in attacks this weekend.

Also yesterday, police found the bullet-riddled bodies of nearly two dozen men abducted last week north of Baghdad after being rejected entry into a police academy, officials said.

The violence continued as Iraq’s political parties began gearing up for talks on a new coalition government that American officials hope will win the confidence of disaffected Sunni Arabs and undermine support for the insurgency.

There was still no word on the fate of kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll two days after a deadline set by her captors.

The attack on the policeman’s home occurred in Balad Ruz, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad, according to the Iraqi police Joint Coordination Center. The officer’s four children, ages 6 to 11, and his brother were killed.

Four policemen were killed and nine were wounded yesterday when a roadside bomb exploded near their patrol in the tense city of Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, police said. Police also said a man was gunned down at a west Baghdad gas station and another was slain in a market in the capital’s Amil district.

The bodies of the 23 men were found partially buried near Dujail, about 50 miles north of Baghdad, Interior Ministry police Lieutenant Thair Mahmoud said.

Elsewhere, the bodies of a prominent Sunni Arab tribal leader, Sayid Ibrahim Ali, 75, and his 28-year-old son, Ayad, were found near Hawija, police said.

In the central city of Mashru, police found the bodies of two men who had been shot in the head and chest.