Fourteen killed in Iraq clashes

At least 14 people have been killed in clashes between Sunni protesters and security forces in a northern Sunni town, Iraqi officials said today.

Sheikh Abdullah Sami al-Asi, a Sunni provincial official from the town of Hawija, said the fighting began early thir morning when security forces entered the protest area in the town and tried to make arrests.

Provincial health director Sidiq Omar Rasool said there at least 14 protesters were killed. He said the clashes also injured more than 50 demonstrators and six members of Iraqi security forces.

Hawija is 160 miles (240km) north of Baghdad.

A United Nations spokeswoman in Iraq, Eliana Nabaa, confirmed that there were multiple casualties.

She urged both sides to immediately lay down their weapons.