A senior member of a government-backed Sunni militia and his three siblings were killed when gunmen attacked their house in central Iraq, police sources said Saturday.
Sabar Mahmoud, a senior Sahwa fighter his two brothers and sister were shot dead in their house, near Samarra town, 170 kilometres north of Baghdad, DPA reported.
Sahwa, or the Awakening Councils, are Sunni fighters who formerly fought the United States presence in Iraq but switched alliances to fight remnants of al-Qaeda alongside Iraqi security forces.
Hundreds of Sahwa fighters have been targeted and killed by al-Qaeda militants over the past year.