Iraqis welcomed the Islamic New Year today (Thursday), as insurgents carried out more attacks. South of Baghdad, in an area known as the "triangle of death," police found the decomposing bodies of more than 20 Iraqi truck drivers, police and soldiers who were killed in an apparent ambush near the town of Suwayrah. In the same area, near the town of Salman Pak, police battled insurgents who attacked them with mortars and gunfire. The U.S. military said it dispatched troops to assist the police, seven of whom were killed. Elsewhere, attacks killed at least five other people. And the purported kidnappers of an Italian journalist called on Italy to announce within 48 hours that it will withdraw its troops from Iraq. The Internet statement -- the latest to deal with the abducted journalist -- could not be verified.