IRAQ: Gunmen kill five policemen in an attack on a police checkpoint in Taza near Kirkuk

Record ID: 354117

  • Title: IRAQ: Gunmen kill five policemen in an attack on a police checkpoint in Taza near Kirkuk
  • Date: 16th February 2014
  • Summary: +++ CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES+++ TAZA, SOUTH OF KIRKUK, IRAQ (FEBRUARY 16, 2014) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) ROAD LEADING UP TO POLICE CHECKPOINT, IRAQI FLAG ON POLICE BUILDING, PEOPLE STANDING IN STREET NEAR CHECKPOINT EXTERIOR OF POLICE BUILDING POCKMARKED WITH BULLET HOLES POLICEMAN WARNING DRIVER OF CAR WITH GUN
  • Embargoed: 3rd March 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Crime,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVADU6FU2EU6DORR0DW6YDO74SFK
  • Story Text: Gunmen killed five policemen in an attack on a police checkpoint south of the Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Sunday (February 16), police said.
    The pre-dawn attack took place in Taza, a predominantly Shi'ite town 20 km (10 miles) south of Kirkuk.
    Police said the gunmen first slit the throat of the policeman on duty on the night shift. They then entered into a nearby police building where four other policemen were sleeping and shot them dead on the spot.
    No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks.
    Kirkuk sits atop one of Iraq's key oil producing fields. The Kirkuk fields contain about 13 percent of Iraq's proven reserves and U.S. officials believe the province could contain four percent of the world's oil reserves.
    It is an ethnically mixed city at the heart of a dispute between the Arab-led central government in Baghdad and ethnic Kurds who have regional authority.
    Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen make up Kirkuk's three main ethnic groups. The city is also home to Chaldean Christians and other minorities. Thousands of Arab families moved to Kirkuk in the 1970s and 1980s under Saddam Hussein's "Arabisation" policy, which involved the expulsion of thousands of Kurds and Turkmen.
    Kurds consider Kirkuk their ancient capital and want to make it part of their northern region.
    Arabs and Turkmen on the other hand want the city to remain under central government authority.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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