Horrific pictures have emerged showing the bodies of some of the 25 women murdered in a raid on a Baghdad brothel.
Gunmen wearing camouflage and carrying weapons fitted with silencers reportedly burst into two apartments in they city's Zayouna district on Saturday evening before massacring everyone inside. Police arrived at the building to find blood streaming down the stairs. Inside they discovered the bodies of dozens of women scattered around two apartments. Victims: Police stand over the bodies of some of the 25 women murdered during a raid on a brothel in a upmarket district of Baghdad. Most of the victims appear to have been killed by gunshost wounds to the head.
In one image the bodies of five women are seen slumped together on the floor of bathroom. In another the bodies of eight women are seen lying in a pool of blood in what appears to be a living room.
MailOnline has decided not to publish these images. A message scrawled on a wall inside one of the apartments read: 'This is the fate of any prostitution. While no group has yet claimed responsibility for the murders, locals believe the killings were carried out by Shiite militants opposed to prostitution. The gunmen, who are believed to be Shia militants, reportedly burst into two of these apartments murdering everbody inside.
A police officer speaking on condition of anonymity said: 'When we walked up the stairs, we saw a couple of women's bodies and blood streaming down the stairs. The attacks happened late on Saturday night at an apartment block in , a mixed Sunni and Shiite district of Baghdad. Police believe men using silenced weapons carried out the executions, before scrawling 'this is the fate of any prostitution' on one of the doors.
