BAGHDAD, March 3: Gunmen stormed through a small town near Baghdad on Thursday night, killing 19 people, in what police said was an attack on Shias.

Among the dead in the latest bloody incident in 10 days of violence were migrant labourers gunned down at a brick works in a dusk raid by 50 or more assailants.

One local politician in the town involved, Nahrawan, put the toll at 25, including a woman and three children.

“They all have a single bullet to the forehead,” municipal council leader Alaa Abdul Sahib al Lamy said. “I’ve sat here ... where the bodies were brought and wept all morning.”

Last week, 47 people were killed in an attack nearby.

Hours after US and Iraqi troops forced the assailants to withdraw, the Iraqi government imposed a new daytime traffic curfew on Baghdad to avert clashes.

Iraqi police and troops, some in Soviet-built tanks, blocked deserted streets, as U.S. forces kept a low profile.

Americans’ hopes of going home soon have been dented as militias have squared off. The U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen George Casey, said the crisis had passed. But, asked if there could be civil war, he told reporters: “Anything can happen.”

Interior ministry officials said 19 bodies were found after the Nahrawan attack, including nine at the local power station, which was wrecked. One suspect had been arrested.

Council leader Lamy said 21 bodies, mostly of migrant workers from the south, were found at the brick factory and four at the power station. “This was a sectarian attack,” he said at the police station where the bodies lay.

The attack took place in a rural area southeast of Baghdad, where guerillas have found haven from security forces.—Reuters