Seven members of same family killed in Iraq-police

BAGHDAD, Aug 21 (Reuters) Gunmen killed seven members of one family today near Latifiya, a mostly Sunni Arab town in Iraq's ''Triangle of Death'' south of Baghdad, police and an Interior Ministry official said.

But, as is often the case in Iraq, officials were unable to give a concerted account of what happened, disagreeing on how many women were among the victims or to which religious sect they belonged.

A police captain in Latifiya, who asked not to be named, said three women and a 2-year-old girl were killed and two women wounded when gunmen stormed into a house in the village of Muwelha near Latifiya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad.

Three men from the same family also died, he said.

Colonel Abbas al-Jabouri, head of police in Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, also said three women and a young girl were among the dead.

However, an Interior Ministry source in Baghdad said all of the dead were men, with two women also wounded.

Police and Interior Ministry officials also differed on whether the family were members of Iraq's majority Shi'ite community or were Sunni Arabs.

Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed and millions displaced in a wave of sectarian violence since the bombing of a revered Shi'ite shrine in the town of Samarra in February 2006.

The ''Triangle of Death'' is a stronghold of Sunni Arab insurgents. US forces are targeting them as part of a major new, nationwide push against Sunni Arab and Shi'ite militants.

REUTERS LPB VC1725