Five Iraqi guards die in Baghdad shooting: police

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen killed five Iraqi government guards outside the ministry of the interior in central Baghdad on Friday, police said.

Police said nine other guards were wounded in the early morning machinegun attack on a watchtower at the main gate of the ministry's heavily fortified compound.

U.S. and Iraqi forces are engaged in a major security clampdown to thwart attacks in the capital and disrupt massive bombings that have inflamed sectarian tension between minority Sunni and majority Shi'ite Arabs.

But violence has continued in several districts of Baghdad.