A policeman in the town of Hussainya said there was no clear motive for the shooting Friday, which left two parents and three of their teenage children dead.

But he says the father was a ministry of electricity worker. Assailants increasingly have been targeting government employees.

A two-year-old toddler survived the attack in the town, located about 25 km northeast of Baghdad.

A health official confirmed the killings and, like the policeman, spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.