Drive-by shooting kills 3 members of anti-al-Qaida group in northern Iraq

Drive-by in north Iraq kills 3 anti-al-Qaida men

BAGHDAD — Police in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk say gunmen have killed three members of an anti-al-Qaida militia in a drive-by shooting at a village checkpoint.

A police official says gunmen opened fire from a speeding car around sunset Friday on the checkpoint in a village 28 miles (45 kilometers) south of oil-rich Kirkuk. Four people were injured.

The police official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

The checkpoint was manned by members of a local branch of what are known as Awakening Councils.

Violence dropped dramatically in Iraq after Sunni tribes formed the Awakening Councils and turned against the al-Qaida-backed insurgency starting at the end of 2006.