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According to reports a number of masked gunmen killed 15 Iranians along with three Iraqis working on a gas pipeline in Diyala Province on Friday. |
The Iranian Foreign Ministry today condemned the attack and vowed swift action against the terrorist act.
Hasan Danaeifar, Iranian Ambassodar in Baghdad, also said that an Investigative Committee, made up of senior Army commanders and security officials, has been formed at the order of Nouri al-Maliki.
He described the killing Iranians involved with the construction activities as a blow to the Iraqi people’s interests.
One worker wounded in the assault told Reuters the attackers sped up in three cars as he and his colleagues were digging a trench to extend the line.
"Three of them got out of a car and started firing on the workers inside and outside the trench," said Ibrahem Aziz by phone from hospital.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack on the workers, 15 of them from Shi'ite Muslim power Iran. But officials said militants from the Iraqi arm of Sunni Muslim group al Qaeda had been active in the area.