BAGHDAD (Xinhua) – Unidentified gunmen have shot dead nine civilians and wounded three others at a village in Iraq’s eastern province of Diyala, a local hospital and a security source said.
A statement by the Khalis Hospital said that it “received in the afternoon the victims of the attack on the village of al-Jiayilah near the town of Khalis, some 70 km northeast of Baghdad.”
The nine victims included six men, two women, and a child, a police source from Diyala province told Xinhua on condition of anonymity, adding that two women and a boy were also injured in the attack.
The source said the attack, under investigation, is believed to be a retaliation for a similar attack on the nearby village of Albu-Bali last month that killed eight civilians and injured three others.
“The targeting of innocent civilians by militias in broad daylight and in front of everyone’s eyes ... is a clear disregard for the law, the state, and social peace,” Raad al-Dahlagi, a member of the Iraqi parliament from Diyala province, said in a statement.