Gunmen kill eight family members in Iraq, behead some

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen shot dead eight members of a family and cut the heads off some of the bodies on Monday in a mainly Sunni area outside Iraq's capital, security officials said, weeks before a national election.

Some fear violence may escalate as Iraq gears up for the March 7 parliamentary ballot that al Qaeda's arm in Iraq -- notorious for gruesome beheadings and massive, coordinated suicide blasts -- has threatened to derail.

"Unknown gunmen killed eight members of the same family with silencers, and cut the heads off some of the bodies," the office of Baghdad security spokesman Major General Qassim al-Moussawi said in a statement.

The attack took place at about 7am local time (0400 GMT) in the al-Wahda neighborhood of the Madaen district outside Baghdad, the office said. It said later that it had arrested those responsible for the attack. No further details were given.

Police in Madaen also confirmed the attack.

Beheadings are a trademark of Sunni Islamist insurgent groups such as al Qaeda.

Violence has fallen sharply in Iraq in the last two years, but bombs and shootings are still common. The national ballot next month is seen as a critical test for Iraq as it tries to leave behind years of war and sectarian conflict.

(Reporting by Suadad al-Salhy; Writing by Mohammed Abbas and Jack Kimball; Editing by Louise Ireland)