Gunmen kill 16 in Iraq

At least 16 people have been killed and four injured after unknown gunmen attacked houses at a town in Iraq's Salahudin province, an official said.

The attack took place on Tuesday evening. Gunmen armed with machine guns attacked three houses in a village, south of Dujail town, around 60 km from capital Baghdad, Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed al-Jubouri from Salahudin's provincial police told Xinhua news agency.

The three houses belonged to three sons of a judge named Rahim al-Marzouq, the offical said, adding that all the victims are the members of the three families and most of them were women and children.

Iraqi security forces launched investigation into the incident, while the troops sealed off the scene and started a search campaign in the area looking for the attackers, Jubouri said.

The predominately Sunni Arab province of Salahudin has been the scene of a major offensive by Iraqi security forces and allied Hashd Shaabi units to drive out Islamic State (IS) militants from the provincial key cities and towns, including its capital city Tikrit, around 170 from Baghdad.

--IANS

pgh/