Gunmen shoot dead 3 Iraqi women west of Baghdad

By Amer al-Hassani

BAGHDAD (AA) - Three Iraqi women were shot dead west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad late Monday, according to a local police officer.

Gunmen broke into a house in Abu Ghraib city, 20 kilometers west of Baghdad, and gunned down three women inside, police captain Nazhan al-Khidr told Anadolu Agency.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Iraq has plunged into a security vacuum since June 2014, when Daesh seized vast swathes of territory in northern and western Iraq.

In late October, the Iraqi army, backed by the U.S.-led air coalition and local allies, launched a wide-scale offensive to drive Daesh from Mosul, Iraq’s once second largest city.