FALLUJAH: A series of six attacks in Baghdad and a shooting west of the capital killed six people, including three daughters and the grandson of a Sufi Muslim order`s leader, Iraqi officials said Wednesday.

"Men with Kalashnikovs and anti-tank rockets attacked the house and adjacent tekiya (Sufi shrine) at 10:00 am (0700 GMT)," said Jassim al-Jumaili, major of Amariyah, south of the former Sunni Arab insurgent bastion of Fallujah.

"Three girls and the granddaughter of Sheikh Mohammed al-Essawi were killed. The sheikh and five others, including his wife, were wounded," Jumaili added.

The Kaznazani Sufi order, popular in Iraq and neighbouring Iran, is known for rituals in which some of its followers, known as dervishes, inflict wounds on their bodies, such as piercings, chewing blades or electrocuting themselves.

It is part of the Qadiri brotherhood, the largest in Iraq, and is also known for its ritual drum music.

Sunni extremists, including Al-Qaeda loyalists, regard the Sufis as infidels and have carried out repeated attacks against them since the US-led invasion of 2003.

In Baghdad, meanwhile, half a dozen separate attacks, mostly targeting police checkpoints, killed two civilians, an interior ministry official said.

A total of 14 people -- five police, a leader in the Sahwa (Awakening) militia, which with US backing took up arms against Al-Qaeda in late 2006, and eight civilians -- were wounded, the official said.

BDST: 1008 HRS, 15 July 2010