Gunmen kill 11 by blowing up house in Iraq

BAGHDAD, July 11 (Reuters) Gunmen killed at least 11 people when they locked them inside a house west of Baghdad today then blew it up, the US military said.

Major Jeff Pool, a spokesman for U.S. Marines based in Iraq's western Anbar province, said the attack in the town of Garma may have been a ''vendetta'' against the owner who is involved with the provincial security forces.

He said 11 civilians had been killed, although Iraqi police said the death toll could be as high as 30. Police earlier said at least seven of those killed were members of one family.

''According to eyewitnesses, two vehicles drove to a house in the village, locked the occupants inside and demolished the house with explosives,'' Pool said.

It was unclear if any people had been forced inside the house before the explosives were laid.

Sunni Arab tribal leaders in Anbar have rounded up thousands of men to join local security forces to fight Sunni Islamist al Qaeda, partly in anger over the militant group's indiscriminate killing of civilians and harsh interpretation of Islam.

That has forced many al Qaeda militants out of Anbar, but others have fought back.

A suicide truck bomber killed 23 Iraqi recruits on Sunday just hours after they joined the army in Anbar when he rammed into their vehicle near Baghdad.

REUTERS SBC PM2335