Gunmen kill five at Baghdad aid office

19 January 2010 | 05:54:09 AM | Source: AAP

Officials say gunmen have broken into the office of an Iraqi humanitarian organisation in Baghdad and killed five employees.

The attackers also left behind a bomb, which exploded later when security forces arrived at the scene, according to an interior ministry official and a police officer who described Monday's attack.

They said the blast in the mainly Sunni Azamiyah neighbourhood in northern Baghdad wounded two members of Iraqi security forces.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to release details of the attack.

Security forces sealed off the area shortly after the shooting, which occurred around 2.30pm, witnesses said. Four men and one woman employed by the Mawteni charity were shot dead, police said.

The motive for the attack was unclear. Attacks against humanitarian groups are relatively rare amid the violence that continues to plague Iraq despite security gains over the past two years.

"We are shocked with this attack that targeted people who were trying to help the poor and victims of violence," said an official with the charity who only identified himself by the nickname Abu Abdullah for security reasons. "Our organisation is not related to any political group."

The official said the head of charity, Alaa al-Qaisi, was wounded in the attack, while two of his brothers were among the dead.

The charity aims primarily to serve widows and orphans, according to its website. It says it helps Iraqis regardless of their sectarian, religious or social background.

Meanwhile, local authorities in the holy city of Najaf south of Baghdad threatened on Monday to purge security forces and government departments there from members of Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party, giving them a one-day deadline to leave the province or face an "iron fist".

The warning came after multiple attacks hit the city last week, killing at least three and wounding 77 others. Najaf is home to the shrine of Imam Ali, the sect's founding saint and cousin of the Prophet Muhammad.