Baghdad, Iraq ? An international team agreed Thursday to review Iraq’s parliamentary elections, a decision lauded by Sunni Arab and secular Shiite groups who have staged repeated protests across Iraq complaining of widespread fraud and intimidation.

Meanwhile, gunmen killed 12 members of an extended Shiite family near Latifiyah, a Sunni Arab-dominated town about 20 miles south of Baghdad. Police said the men were taken from their homes, packed into a minivan and shot.

The decision by the International Mission for Iraqi Elections to send a team of assessors should help placate opposition complaints of ballot box rigging and mollify those groups who felt their views were not being heard, especially among hardline Sunni Arab parties.

“It is important that the Iraqi people have confidence in the election results and that the voting process, including the process for vote counting, is free and fair,” U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said.

He added that “these experts will be arriving immediately and we are ready to assist them, if needed.”

The team was coming despite a U.N. observer’s endorsement of the Dec. 15 vote, which gave the Shiite religious bloc a big lead in preliminary returns. The observer, Craig Jenness, said Wednesday that his team – which helped the Iraqi election commission organize and oversee the poll – found the elections to be credible and transparent.

Sunni Arabs and secular Shiites rejected Jenness’ findings, saying their concerns – which included political assassinations before the elections – were not addressed.

There have been about 1,500 complaints lodged against the elections, including about 50 serious enough to alter the results in some districts. The overall result, however, was not expected to change.