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Gunmen kill 5 people at Baghdad aid office

BAGHDAD — Officials said gunmen broke into the office of an Iraqi humanitarian organization in Baghdad on Monday and killed five employees.

The attackers also left behind a bomb, which exploded later when security forces arrived at the scene, according to an interior ministry official and a police officer who described the attack.

They said the blast in the capital’s northern Azamiyah neighborhood wounded two members of Iraqi security forces.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release details of the attack.

Security forces sealed off the area shortly after the shooting, which occurred around 2:30 p.m., witnesses said. Four men and one woman employed by the Mawteni charity were shot dead, police said.

The motive for the attack was unclear. Attacks against humanitarian organizations are relatively rare amid the violence that continues to plague Iraq despite security gains over the past two years.

The charity aims primarily to help widows and orphans, according to its Web site. It is not known to have overt political ties, and says it aims to help Iraqis regardless of their sectarian, religious or social background.