Gunmen killed 20 people, including 12 policemen, in an ambush north-east of Baghdad on Wednesday, police said, in one of the deadliest attacks in Iraq in weeks.
Civilians and members of a United States-backed Sunni Arab patrol group were also killed in the attack close to the city of Baquba in Diyala province, 65km north-east of Baghdad, police said.
Gunmen attacked a checkpoint in a village close to Baquba, killing one policeman. The gunmen then ambushed reinforcements, killing a further 11 policemen, local Sunni Arab patrol group members and civilians, police said.
The dead included a police lieutenant-colonel and a police captain. The US military and the Iraqi army have since surrounded the area, but the gunmen were believed to have escaped, police said.
Violence has fallen to four-year lows in Iraq, but groups such as Sunni Islamist al-Qaeda are believed to have regrouped in Diyala and other northern provinces after being ousted from strongholds elsewhere. — Reuters