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.