Massacre: Disputed claims

AN IRAQI journalist said yesterday that gunmen went on a killing spree in his Baghdad home, murdering seven children and four adult relatives, but Iraq’s interior ministry denied the attack took place.

Dia al-Kawwaz, editor of website Shabeqat Akhbar al-Iraq, said militiamen sprayed his relatives with bullets after storming into his house on Sunday.

“Four gunmen entered my family house in Shab area. Two of my sisters, their husbands and seven children between five and 10 years old were killed yesterday [Sunday] morning,” Kawwaz said yesterday by telephone from Amman, Jordan.

However, the Iraqi interior ministry's director of operations, Major General Abdel Karim Khalaf, said he had no knowledge of the attack.

“This is a lie. Nothing like this has happened. If such a big crime happens, we always launch an investigation,” he said.

Mr Kawwaz, however, held a condolence service last night in Amman to mourn the deaths.

“The bodies were buried in Najaf after sunset yesterday and there will also be a condolence meeting in Kut tomorrow,” he said.