Al-Qaeda operatives shoot 25 people in Iraq and then hoist their organization’s banner
Tuesday, March 6th, 2012 5:20:55 by Hamza Jahangir
A gang of gunmen wearing military-style uniforms and carrying forged arrest warrants killed 25 police Monday, then hoisted the battle flag of al Qaeda in a carefully planned early morning shooting spree in western Iraq, officials
said.
The killings in Haditha highlight al Qaeda’s success in regaining a foothold in an area it once dominated through executing police and murdering city officials.
By going after police, the terrorists demonstrate to the residents of Haditha, a desert city closer to the Syrian border than to Baghdad, how isolated they are from the central government’s protection and intimidate those who want
to join the security forces.
The killings Monday morning demonstrated a high degree of coordination, knowledge of their targets and a boldness that indicated little fear of the local security forces’ ability to fight back.
The violence began with an attack on a suburban checkpoint at about 2 a.m. in Haditha and ended with the gang disappearing into the desert a half-hour later.
“We consider this attack as a serious security breach, and we believe that al Qaeda or groups linked to it are behind this,” said Mohammed Fathi, spokesman for the governor of Iraq’s western Anbar province where Haditha is located.
Iraqi officials described a systematic plot to kill police in Haditha, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, with attackers disguising themselves in military uniforms and driving cars painted to look like Iraqi Interior Ministry vehicles.
Mr. Fathi said the gang claimed they were military officials with arrest warrants for city police. They were stopped at a checkpoint outside Haditha, where they took away the guards’ mobile phones before shooting nine of them,
he said.
Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=14805
Posted by Hamza Jahangir
on Mar 6 2012. Filed under Latest News, Middle East, World.
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