Officials: 4 killed in Iraq due to heavy rain

— An unusually heavy rainstorm has collapsed shoddy houses in Iraq, killing a woman and three children, police and health officials said Wednesday.

A police officer said a house in the town of Mohammed al-Sakran, about 25 miles northeast of Baghdad, collapsed Tuesday night, killing the three children and their aunt. The parents were injured, he said.

He said five other people were injured when two mud houses collapsed in the outskirts of Baghdad’s rundown Sadr City slum.

Two health officials confirmed the causality figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information to reporters.

Tuesday’s rainstorm was heaviest in in the Baghdad this winter, flooding streets and forcing the government to declare an emergency public holiday.

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