Gunmen killed five people in Iraq

The Head of the Security Committee of Iraqi province of  Diyala, Awad al-Rubaie, has confirmed that gunmen shot dead on Thursday three local officials and two civilians in separate attacks  in the eastern town of the province.

Awad disclosed that in one incident, Harith al-Rubaie, mayor of the town of Abu-Seida, some 90 km northeast of Iraq’s capital Baghdad, was shot dead when he was on a visit to a neighborhood in the town.

”Harith was shot dead by a former bodyguard of his who invited the mayor to his house for lunch and killed him there,” Awad said, adding that former bodguard fled the neighborhood with his family before the security forces rushed to the scene, he added.

”Separately, gunmen shot dead Saad Majid Sreiwi, head of Abu Seida town council, his son and a civilian accompanying them in the town’s center, before fleeing the scene,” he said.

In a third attack in the town, gunmen opened fire on Mohammed al-Hameiri, director of the national identity cards office of Abu Seida, killed him and fled the scene.

According to a police officer in Abu Seida, Nihad al-Wandawi, following the three attacks, the local authorities imposed a curfew on Abu Seida and the nearby towns of Wajihiyah and Maqdadiyah, and launched an investigation into the attacks.

”It is not immediately clear whether the incidents were criminal or terrorist attacks, as no group has claimed responsibility yet,” al-Wandawi addedq.