An attack on a Shia Muslim family living near Baghdad has left at least 16 people dead, Iraqi officials say.
Six children and five women were among those killed when the neighbouring homes of two brothers in the town of Latifiya, 40km (25 miles) south of the capital, were targeted overnight.
A survivor said the gunmen shot anyone they saw before blowing up the houses.
Sectarian violence has surged across Iraq in recent months, reaching its highest level since 2008.More than 800 people were killed in August alone, with Baghdad province worst affected.
Latifiya is in a religiously-mixed region that came to be known as the "Triangle of Death" at the peak of Iraq's insurgency in 2006 and 2007.
The head of a controversial US and Israeli-backed aid group has defended its work after repeated...
The decision was taken "to put America's interests first" and followed a Department of Defense review...
