Iraq's interior minister dismissed Babylon province's police chief on Friday and several officers were called for questioning following an operation that reportedly led to the deaths of 20 members of the same family.

The operation, details of which remain unclear, took place Thursday when rapid intervention units and intelligence forces sought to storm a house in the village of Al-Rashayed in the central Iraqi province.

In a brief initial statement, security forces said they had "pursued two individuals accused of terrorism" who "opened fire indiscriminately" once surrounded.

An investigation was opened "after the discovery of a number of dead bodies of citizens in a house", the statement added.

On Friday, Interior Minister Othman al-Ghanemi travelled to Al-Rashayed where he sacked the police chief and announced the formation of a commission to investigate "the unit that carried out the operation".

The official Iraqi News Agency gave a death toll of 20 civilians from the same family, and said that the owner of the property had opened fire and "refused to surrender".

A separate statement from the security forces said a "number of officers and individuals" had been called in for questioning in connection with the incident, without providing details on their identities.

Interior ministry official Saad Maan posted a video of the premises on Twitter, showing a house with a blackened facade and gutted doors and windows.

He denounced a "crime on all levels", without identifying those to blame, and said the investigation was ongoing to "understand all the circumstances of the incident".

On Thursday evening, security sources and media outlets had suggested a suspect linked with the Islamic State group or drug trafficking rings had been involved.

Inquiry opened after civilians die during Iraq manhunt
Hilla, Iraq (AFP) Dec 30, 2021 - Iraqi security forces announced an investigation into the deaths of several civilians during the pursuit of two suspects accused of terrorism, according to an official statement Thursday.

The announcement came after three security sources told AFP a wanted man holed up in his Iraqi home killed at least 12 members of his extended family, many of them children, before committing suicide Thursday.

The tragedy took place in Al-Rashayed village in the central province of Babylon, just south of Baghdad, when special forces and intelligence officers prepared to raid the home of the suspect "accused of terrorism", one security source told AFP.

Security forces "pursued two individuals accused of terrorism," the security force statement said.

"After surrounding him he opened fire indiscriminately at the (security) forces."

State news agency INA reported a mission had been undertaken to arrest "wanted people hiding in a house, the owner of which opened fire on the security forces".

"Upon entering the house which the owner refused to surrender, the unit found that all members of his family, numbering 20 civilians, had died," the agency reported.

An intelligence source told AFP that the suspect was part of the Islamic State-group.

Iraq proclaimed victory against IS in 2017 after the group over-ran large swathes of the country's northern and western regions in 2014.

A low-level IS insurgency, particularly in the north, continues to disrupt efforts to restore stability to Iraq, which is scarred by years of warfare and unrest.

The south and centre of Iraq are also important drug trafficking routes, which security forces have intensified their efforts against.

Drugs have also been sold and used widely in Iraq for many years.

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