In Iraq, gunmen have shot dead at least twenty two Shia pilgrims. The victims were travelling by bus to visit a shrine in Syria when they were held up at a checkpoint in in the town of Rutbah, a remote desert town, in the western Anbar province.Officials said gunmen had ordered the women to leave the bus then driven the men to another location where they killed them. Attacks on Shia pilgrims have claimed hundreds of lives in recent months. Maj Gen Hadi Razij, head of the provincial police, told Reuters that there was a big bus and a minibus containing 30 people, including 22 men and 8 women.