Four men who had fled Iraq's western Anbar province for Baghdad were kidnapped by gunmen Saturday and later found shot in the head, security and medical officials said.

"Unknown gunmen wearing military uniforms broke into one of the houses in the Bayaa area... and kidnapped four men who were displaced from Anbar," a police colonel said on condition of anonymity.

"Less than half an hour later, their bodies were found" in the Bayaa area in southern Baghdad, blindfolded with gunshots to the head, the officer said.

A medical official confirmed that the bodies of four men had been discovered, saying their hands and legs were bound and they had all been shot in the head, though there were other gunshot wounds as well.

Anbar is a massive desert province that stretches from the borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to the western approach to Baghdad.

While pro-government forces hold pockets of territory in the province, Daesh jihadist group controls large areas, and there has been heavy fighting between the two sides that has displaced tens of thousands of people.

The killing of the four men came a day after a woman and two children were shot dead in the Abu Dsheer area, also located in the capital's south.

Images that were widely shared online showed the body of a woman and a young boy lying on a bloodstained mat with a baby bottle nearby, while a little girl's body lay on a couch.

All three were shot in the head, apparently at close range, in killings that interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan said may have been related to "a family problem," though the investigation into the incident is ongoing.

But rumours circulated online on Saturday that the three were killed by displaced people from Anbar, raising the possibility that the four Anbari men might have been killed in revenge.
Source: AFP