Gunmen in army uniforms kill 12 Iraqi villagers

A woman looks at an Iraqi soldier standing guard during a joint search operation with U.S. army in the town of Jalawla of Diyala province, 115 km (70 miles) northeast of Baghdad, May 16, 2009.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen wearing military uniforms shot dead 12 men in a pre-dawn attack at a village near Baghdad on Monday, villagers and police said.

The attack took place in the mainly Sunni village of Zauba, west of Baghdad, which at the height of the fighting in Iraq was viewed as a hotbed of support for Sunni Islamist insurgents.

One of those killed was affiliated with the main Sunni Arab political party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, police said.

The violence kicked off by the 2003 U.S. invasion has fallen off over the past 18 months but attacks -- including shootings and kidnappings -- are still common.

(Writing by Deepa Babington; Editing by Matthew Jones)