Gunmen have killed all the members of a Sunni Muslim family of six in an attack on their home north of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, officials say.
The deadly attack was carried out on Monday in the town of Tarmiyah, according to a police colonel and a medical official.
One man, two women and three children were the victims of the assault, whose perpetrators are still unknown.
The killings come as Takfiri militants from the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) continue their campaign of terror in Iraq. Iraqi armed forces have been engaged in fierce clashes with the ISIL terrorists since two weeks ago. The militants have threatened to take their acts of violence to Baghdad.
The advance of the ISIL Takfiris has been slowed down as Iraqi military forces and volunteer fighters have begun engaging them on several fronts, pushing the militants out of several areas they had earlier overrun.
Iraqi soldiers regained the control of al-Waleed crossing on the border with Syria and the Turaibil crossing with Jordan on Monday. They also recaptured the town of Balad in Salahuddin Province. Elsewhere, the army flushed the ISIL militants out of the al-Othaim district in Diyala Province.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has repeatedly said that Saudi Arabia, and Qatar are supporting the militancy in Iraq.
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