Four members of an anti-Qaeda militia were gunned down at a checkpoint outside Baghdad on Tuesday, an interior ministry official said, the second such attack in the area in three weeks.
"They were at a checkpoint in Mashaada and gunmen came up to them, fired on them, and then fled," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The attack occurred near the railway station in Mashaada, a predominantly Sunni town 30 kilometres (18 miles) north of the capital.
The murdered men were members of the Sahwa (Awakening) movement, known as the "Sons of Iraq" by the US army, which joined American and Iraqi forces to wage war in 2006 and 2007 against Al-Qaeda and its supporters, leading to a dramatic fall in violence across the country.
The Mashaada attack comes just three weeks after six Sahwa members were shot dead in broad daylight in nearby Nadeem village.
Control of the Sahwa passed to Iraqi authorities last October and since January their wages — said to have been cut from 300 dollars under US leadership to 100 dollars — have been paid, often late, by the government.
However, the Sunni fighters have since been targeted in apparent revenge attacks.
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