At least 18 oil and gas workers have been shot dead outside the town of Muqdadiya in northeastern Iraq.<br /><br /> Muqdadiya’s mayor said 15 Iranian workers and three Iraqis had been killed. He said they were ambushed by masked gunmen while digging a trench to extend a gas pipeline.<br /><br /> Violent attacks have been on the rise in Iraq. 948 people were killed in November alone – most of them civilians.
