BAGHDAD  —  Gunmen, Wednesday Sept. 4, shot dead at least 16 members of a Shi’a family before blowing up their two neighboring homes south of the Iraqi capital overnight, police and medics said.

The attack took place in the town of Latifiya, around 40 km (25 miles) from Baghdad, in a volatile area known as the “triangle of death.”

Women react near empty coffins as they wait to claim the bodies of their relatives, who were killed by gunmen, outside a hospital morgue in Mahmudiya, 30 km (19 miles) south of Baghdad, September 4, 2013. REUTERS/Ibrahim Jassam

It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack but extremist Sunni militants who view Shi’a as apostates have been regaining momentum in their insurgency and striking with a ferocity not seen in years.

“We were sitting in our house when some gunmen opened fire at us through the windows,” said a teenage girl, sitting on the bed of her 6-year-old brother in a hospital ward. Both their heads were bandaged.

“My father stood and moved toward the door. They shot him dead immediately. They shot my sister dead. They were shooting randomly.”

About 800 Iraqis were killed in August, according to the United Nations, with more than a third of the attacks in Baghdad.

Separately on Sept 4, a suicide bomber attacked a police headquarters in the northern city of Mosul, killing five policemen. A roadside bomb also struck a patrol in Tarmiya, north of Baghdad, killing five soldiers.