Iraq has condemned the murder of its deputy ambassador to Jordan as "cowardly and heinous".

Hikmet Hajou, who was the charge d'affaires, his wife and up to six other people were killed in a house in the west of the city. All the dead were Iraqis except one, who was an Egyptian.

Rageh Omaar reports from Baghdad (1' 14")

The attackers were armed with guns and knives but all the victims are believed to have been stabbed to death.

A woman who is thought to be the only survivor of the massacre is seriously ill in hospital.

She has reportedly told police there were four or five assailants and they all spoke with Iraqi accents.

The attack took place in the early hours of Sunday morning at the home of Iraqi businessman Sami George.

Motive unclear

The victim: Hikmet Hajou

Mr Hajou is known to have had strong links to the DGI, the Iraqi intelligence service.

But correspondents say it is difficult to be sure whether his attackers were enemies or supporters of President Saddam Hussein.

A BBC correspondent says the obvious interpretation would be that the killers were Iraqi dissidents -- but the government in Baghdad has been known to assassinate its own officials outside Iraq in the past and this cannot be ruled out at this stage.

Iraq has sent Foreign Ministry under-secretary Saad al-Feisal and a general from Iraq's security forces to Amman and has called on Jordanian authorities to carry out immediate investigations.

Relations between Iraq and Jordan have been poor since Baghdad executed four Jordanian students accused of smuggling last month.

Earlier this month the Iraqi commercial attache in Amman escaped injury when he was fired at from a passing car.

The area around the villa where the murders took place has been cordoned off while the police continue their examination of the scene.

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