Sunni militants murder eight in one family

Sunni militants were blamed for the murders yesterday. Some of the victims were beheaded, others shot.

It was one of a series of pre-election shooting and car bombing attacks that have swept the country, killing 22 people in all.

Attacks on civilians were commonplace at the height of the sectarian fighting in 2006 and 2007. The targeting of civilians, especially the beheadings in Wahda, a mixed Shiite-Sunni village, raised concerns that the vicious sectarian violence that nearly tore the country apart could resurface.

The Baghdad-area security command said that a "terrorist group" using silencers shot and beheaded eight members of a single family. It did not say how many were shot and how many were beheaded, and provided few other details of what they described as an "ugly crime."

Although sectarian violence dramatically diminished after many Sunni insurgents turned against al-Qaida in late 2006 and joined forces with the US military, there are signs it might be reigniting.