A brothel in Baghdad became the target of a violent attack on Tuesday as several gunmen shot five men and seven women dead. The men and women were presumed to be the brothel's clients and prostitutes.

The incident took place at a Zayouna area apartment located along east  Baghdad. 

Following the attack, there has been speculation of this incident being related to a similar attack which also took place in the same area in Baghdad on May 22, 2013, also killing 12 people.

In the previous week, the gunmen also attacked a number of policemen at one of the area's checkpoints before shooting 12 civilians dead in the nearby vicinity.

Rumors that there is a significance in the number 12 have emerged but authorities have yet to confirm a direct link to the number and the vigilantes.

Cases of violence and attacks in Iraq have increased significantly over the past few years to the same level as five years previously when the Middle East nation had been struggling with a harsh period of sectarian killings.

After President Obama had U.S. troops pull out in December of 2011, Iraq has experienced a greater level of violence that continues to worsen with the passing years.

Gun and bomb attacks focused on Shia areas throughout 2012, triggering a new sectarian feud. Almost 200 people were lost in January, followed by 160 more around June, 113 people dead in a single day in July, greater than 70 citizens in August, around 62 in various attacks nationwide along September, and a minimum of 35 people in November, the Shia mourning month of Muharram.

In April of 2013, soldiers invaded a Sunni anti-government protest gathering in Hawija, leaving 50 more dead. By July, Iraq had reverted back to the sectarian war zone it had been in 2012. September saw a brutal massacre in a refuge for Iranian exiles called Camp Ashraf.

Iraq's government officials confirmed that October 2013 had the most deaths since April 2008, with 900 people dead. Nearing the end of December 2013, the United Nations released an estimated death toll of Iraqi civilians at around 7,157 - greater than double of last year's figure.

The Baghdad brothel attack contributed to the statistic that the first five days of January 2014 already had more deaths than the whole of January 2013.