|
Top Iraq cop killed in ambush
24/01/2008 13:06 - (SA)
Baghdad - A suicide bomber killed an Iraqi police chief and two other officers on Thursday as they fled an ambush at the site of the wreckage of another blast a day earlier that killed at least 18 civilians and wounded nearly 150, the US military and Iraqi officials said.
The attacker was wearing an explosives vest under an Iraqi police uniform when he struck, killing Brigadier General Saleh Mohammed Hassan, the director of police for Ninevah province, the US military said in a statement. A US soldier and an Iraqi soldier were also wounded, it said.
The Iraqi army was securing the area of Mosul, a volatile northern city where al-Qaeda in Iraq is thought to have a strong presence.
An Iraqi police spokesperson said Hassan was attacked after gunmen ambushed the blast site, sparking clashes that lasted for about 15 minutes. The bomber moved toward Hassan's car as it was preparing to flee the area, said Brigadier General Saeed al-Jubouri, a police spokesperson.
Hassan was wounded and taken to an Iraqi army hospital, where he was pronounced dead, al-Jubouri said.
The brazen attack happened a day after a huge blast tore through a vacant apartment building and adjacent houses just minutes after the Iraqi army arrived to investigate tips about a weapons cache.
American and Iraqi forces have been on the offensive against militants in and around Baghdad, but Mosul - Iraq's third-largest city some 360km northwest of the capital - continues to be a centre of gravity for al-Qaeda in Iraq and other insurgents, according to the US military.
- AP
|
News
