Iraq on Friday imposed a daytime curfew on Baghdad and three neighbouring provinces, to stop a new wave of sectarian attacks, security officials said.
The measure, announced by the government overnight, came after two days of bloody reprisals following the bombing of an important Shiite shrine in Samarra, north of Baghdad.
According to AFP, at least 130 people, mostly Sunnis, died nationwide Wednesday and Thursday.
In the latest violence, gunmen also stormed a house and killed two Shi'ite men and a woman in Latifiya, just outside Baghdad around 7 a.m. on Friday despite the curfew. Two children were wounded in the attack.
Elsewhere, a Shiite muezzin, who calls for prayers from mosques, was shot dead in the northern town of Tuz Khormatu overnight while a car-bomb targeted a mosque in the southern city of Basra, police said. Two people were injured in the bombing. Meanwhile, residents reported heavy clashes in at least two areas in and around Baghdad overnight, Reuters reported.
