Unidentified gunmen killed at least 40 Syrian soldiers and government employees who were being taken to the Syrian border by Iraqi authorities on Monday after fleeing into Iraq from a Syrian rebel attack last week, Iraqi officials said.
A convoy carrying the Syrians was ambushed in Iraq's western province of Anbar, where thousands of Iraqi Sunnis have been protesting daily for more than two months against the Shi'ite-led government and the perceived marginalisation of their sect.
The conflict in neighbouring Syria, where mainly Sunni Muslim rebels are fighting to overthrow a leader backed by Shi'ite Iran, is whipping up sectarian tensions in Iraq and the wider Middle East.
That has raised concerns of a return to the kind of sectarian strife that killed tens of thousands in Iraq in 2006-2007.
"The incident took place in Akashat when the convoy carrying the Syrian soldiers and employees was on its way to the al-Waleed border crossing," a senior Iraqi official told Reuters.
"Gunmen set up an ambush and killed 40 of them, plus some Iraqi soldiers who were protecting the convoy."
{{/usCountry}}"Gunmen set up an ambush and killed 40 of them, plus some Iraqi soldiers who were protecting the convoy."
{{/usCountry}}The Iraqi officials said some 65 Syrian soldiers and government employees had handed themselves over to Iraq on Friday after anti-government rebels seized the Syrian side of the Yaarabiya frontier crossing.
Anbar's Sunnis have been venting frustrations that have built up since the U.S.-led invasion overthrew the Sunni Muslim dictator Saddam Hussein and empowered Iraqi's majority Shi'ites.