16 members of a Shia family were killed near Baghdad on Wednesday, Iraqi officials say.
The civilians were killed after militants bombed two adjacent houses belonging to brothers from a Shia family in Latifiya, 40 km south of Baghdad, according to BBC reports.
Among the dead are at least five women and six children, Iraqi security officials told BBC.
Gunmen opened fire on 16 members of the same family overnight before blowing up the homes, medical and police officials said Wednesday.
"Gunmen broke into our house overnight and shot my father four times in the head, they killed my two brothers, they killed my cousin, they were shooting everyone they saw, I escaped from the back door," eyewitness Haneen Mudhhir told Reuters news agency from hospital, BBC reported.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.
Violence in Iraq is currently at its highest level since 2008, with sectarian violence killing an average of 15 people a day in 2013, according to AFP figures.
In August of this year alone, more than 800 people were killed. Baghdad has been the most affected by the violence.
