14 truck drivers shot dead in Iraq

Gunmen have killed 14 truck drivers in an ambush north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, said security officials on Thursday.

The gunmen stopped the drivers early on Thursday at a fake checkpoint on a major road linking Baghdad to the northern city of Kirkuk.

They fired at them and made off with their trucks.

The attack was the latest in a surge of violence that has killed nearly 300 people in Iraq since the month of Ramadan began on July 10, according to official figures.