They say the victims are probably the latest victims of the sectarian death squads at work in the Iraqi capital.
Meanwhile the U.S. military says two more of its soldiers have been killed in action in Iraq, bringing to at least 34 the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq this month.
In Germany, police have arrested an Iraqi man suspected of disseminating video and audio messages from Osama bin Laden and other top Al-Qaeda members on the Internet over the past year.
(AFP, AP, dpa)