BAGHDAD, Nov 22: Thirty-four people were killed in fierce gun battles as suspected Al Qaeda fighters, some dressed as Iraqi soldiers, attacked three villages on Thursday. Gunmen dressed in army uniforms launched an attack on Howr Rajab, a Sunni village south of Baghdad, killing three soldiers and wounding three, a security official said.

They then commandeered a Humvee armoured vehicle and charged into the village where they assaulted the headquarters of the Howr Rajab Awakening Council, a local anti-Qaeda front.

Witnesses said fierce clashes ensued when Iraqi troops and Awakening members fought back. Ten civilians were killed and four wounded in the clashes.

A doctor at Baghdad’s Al-Yarmuk hospital said the facility had received the bodies of 10 civilians from the village.

An interior ministry official confirmed three soldiers had been killed and put the death toll of civilians at 18.—AFP