Iraqi policemen stand guard at a checkpoint on al-Saadun street in central Baghdad. (file photo)
Gunmen have shot and killed 14 people near a town in the western province of Anbar in Iraq.
The incident took place near the town of Nukhaib on Wednesday after the attackers stopped the victims at a fake checkpoint set up along the main highway connecting Iraq to Saudi Arabia, and opened fire on them.
Some reports said all fourteen people killed in the attack were policemen, and that their murderers burnt bodies of two of them.
Other reports, however, said some of the victims were civilians from Karbala Province.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
There has been a recent upsurge in violence across Iraq. Authorities accuse Qatar and Saudi Arabia of having a hand in the violence.
On June 1, the United Nation said that a total of 1,045 people were killed and 2,397 injured in the incidents of violence across Iraq throughout May.
The UN envoy to Iraq Martin Kobler on May 30 warned that Å“systemic violence is ready to explode at any moment.”
He also urged Iraq’s political leaders to Å“engage immediately to pull the country out of this mayhem.”
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has blamed militant groups and the remnants of the former Baâ„¢athist regime for the recent wave of violence.
MAM/KA
This article originally appeared on: Press TV