Gunmen kill 18 workers in Iraq

(Vatican Radio) Gunmen killed 18 people working on a gas pipeline in northeastern Iraq, just outside the town of Muqdadiya. The victims included 15 Iranians and three Iraqis. Another eight were injured.

The gunmen opened fire on the workers building a gas pipeline between Iraq and Iran. In July, Iran signed a deal agreeing to build a pipeline to import gas into Iraq.

According to the United Nations, violence in Iraq is at the highest level in five years, with more than 8,000 people killed this year alone.

In separate incidents yesterday, at least five people were killed and 14 wounded when a car bomb exploded in the outskirts of Baghdad. Another six people were killed in a car bomb explosion in a town, also south of Baghdad.

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