The death toll in a militant assault on an office building occupied by a state-owned company run by the Iraqi Ministry of Transportation has risen to 18 people, Reuters reported citing security sources.

Security forces managed to regain control of the building after suicide bombers seized it and took hostages.

Earlier a spokesman for the Human Rights Ministry, which is also located in the attacked office building, said that “all necessary security measures” have been taken and employees were evacuated from the building.

Armed men have stormed an office of Iraq's transportation ministry in northeast Baghdad, killing at least four hostages. According to Interior Ministry spokesman Saad Maan Ibrahim, at least six gunmen carried out the attack.

At the same time, there are reports saying that there were eight militants and three of them were killed by the security forces, while the rest remain inside.

No group claimed responsibility for the assault.

The attack comes just a day after suicide bombings hit Baghdad’s Jadidah, Shuala and Talbiyah neighborhoods, killing nine people. Another seven were killed in the outskirts of the capital, as well as the northern cities of Mosul and Tuz Khurmatu.

Recent fatal attacks have pushed the death toll for January past 900 people, according to AFP estimates, with elections approaching in just three months.

The violence coincides with a month-long standoff between the Iraqi army and anti-government fighters in the western province of Anbar. On Thursday Iraq’s fugitive Vice-President Tariq Hashemi warned that an armed stand-off could spread to other parts of the country as Sunni Muslim opposition to Shiite Prime Minister Noori Al Maliki grows, Reuters reported. 

“I’m not optimistic about the future ... I think this spark in Anbar will spread to other provinces,” Hashemi said in an interview to the news agency. 

So far, the standoff has forced more than 140,000 people to flee their homes, the UN refugee agency said.

Iraq is facing a resurgence of sectarian and political violence that claimed the lives of 8,868 people in 2013, according to estimates from the United Nations.

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