BAGHDAD — Gunmen broke into a house early yesterday and fatally shot a family of three as they slept, Iraqi officials said. Separately, mortar rounds struck in central Baghdad, killing two.
The dawn house attack, which killed a mother, father, and 13-year-old boy, occurred in the mixed Sunni-Shi’ite neighborhood of Baiyaa in the southwestern part of the capital, a police officer said. The shooters, who were wearing military uniforms, fled before they could be captured, he said. The motive behind the deadly shooting was not immediately clear.
In Baghdad’s central Tahrir Square, two mortar rounds slammed into the street at about 1 p.m., killing two pedestrians and injuring 10 others, another police officer said. Two other mortar shells landed in central Jadiriyah district and injured five civilians, he added.
He said the mortar rounds were aimed at Baghdad’s Green Zone, which houses Iraqi government headquarters and the US and British embassies.
Five Katyusha rockets hit the Green Zone, but there was no immediate word on casualties.
Police said the mortar fire and rockets came from a scrap material yard in the al-Nahda area in the eastern side of Baghdad. Eleven other rockets were found there.
Two medical workers confirmed the casualty figures.
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