Family massacred in Baghdad

Gunmen massacred a family of nine, mainly women and children, as they slept in their Baghdad home early yesterday, police and witnesses said.

The killings, of Shi'ite Muslims in a mainly Shi'ite neighbourhood in the east of the capital, sparked accusations from local people that it was a sectarian attack by Sunnis.

Also yesterday a suicide bomber killed at least 18 people and wounded more than 40 at an Iraqi Army recruiting centre in western Baghdad.

Iraq has witnessed a rise in tit-for-tat sectarian killings since January elections empowered majority Shi'ites for the first time.