Gunmen kill 14 men in Iraqi family massacre

BAGHDAD, Feb 8 (Reuters) Gunmen shot dead 14 men from the same Sunni Arab family in a massacre north of Baghdad today, after storming two neighbouring homes and separating the men from the women and children, police said.

Police said a 15th man had survived despite being shot six times but was in a serious condition in hospital.

Gunmen in two vehicles attacked the two houses in Rafiyaat, a mainly Sunni village near the town of Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad, today morning. The area has witnessed a surge in sectarian violence in recent months.

Police said the gunmen dragged all the male members of the family from their homes, lined them up outside and then machinegunned them.

The victims were a grandfather, his sons and grandsons. All were adults.

Entire families have been wiped out in similar massacres since the bombing of a Shi'ite shrine in February 2006 triggered an explosion of sectarian bloodletting that has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis and raised fears of all-out civil war.

REUTERS SSC PM1956