Gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying employees home from a factory in Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, today, killing up to 17 people, police and hospital sources have confirmed.
A source at a nearby Baghdad hospital said it had received the bodies of 17 people killed in the attack. Police sources said 12 people had been killed.
"We were on the bus going home. Two cars with about 10 insurgents opened fire on us. We don't know why; we are just workers," said Adil Zamal, being treated for multiple gunshot wounds to the back at the An Noor hospital, which received 20 wounded patients from the attack.
He said about 36 workers had been on the bus. The dead were taken to another hospital.
A police source said the al-Faris factory worked on reconstruction projects. Insurgents often target Iraqis seen as working for the US-backed authorities.
US and Iraqi forces are battling an insurgency led by Sunni Arabs resentful of the Shia and Kurdish-led government in Baghdad.