- Title: IRAQ: CAR BOMB KILLS TWO IRAQI POLICE AND WOUNDS 12 IN TIKRIT
- Date: 13th June 2005
- Summary: (W3) TIKRIT, IRAQ (JUNE 13, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. LV SCENE OF THE CAR BOMB BLAST, BLACK SMOKE RISING 0.09 2. LV OF TWO BURNING CARS (2 SHOTS) 0.24 3. LV/GV BURNING CAR WITH AUDIO OF U.S. SOLDIERS' SHOOTING (2 SHOTS) 0.36 4. SLV IRAQI POLICE CARS AND AMBULANCE ARRIVING 0.44 5. PAN/SV CASUALTIES ON THE BACK OF A TRUCK OUTSIDE HO
- Embargoed: 28th June 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BAGHDAD/ TIKRIT/ MOSUL, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA2TZSXBQQ45U2IJWSCKTXPRT1D
- Story Text: Car bomb kills two Iraqi police and wounds 12 in the
northern city of Tikrit.
A suicide car bomber blew up his vehicle next to an
Iraqi police patrol in Tikrit on Monday, (June 13, 2005) killing
two police officers and wounding 12 people, most of them
civilians, police said.
Lieutenant Faris Ahmad, who was wounded in the blast,
said the bomber pulled his white Toyota alongside the
police patrol as it moved through the centre of Saddam
Hussein's hometown before detonating the explosives. Of the 12
wounded, seven were civilians and five were
police, he said.
In the northern city of Mosul, Iraqi forces backed by
U.S. troops launched a search-and-arrest operations to net
suspects, witnesses said.
They said the operations covered a number of
neighbourhoods west of Mosul where attacks against U.S.
forces have been frequent. The witnesses said that 27 men,
five women and two school children were arrested in the
operation.
According to residents the troops arrested most of the
men, leaving only women and children.
"The old man is blind and deaf and if they (U.S.
forces) do not believe, let them do medical check-ups for
him and they hit the old woman on her head and her shoulder
swelled," said Zainab Mohammed, who lives next door.
"They (arrested) are civilians. If they (U.S.forces) do
not release our women we will leave our homes for them and
become terrorists," said Hussein Mohammed whose wife was
arrested during the searches.
U.S. military said in a statement that a total of five
individuals suspected of terrorist activity were arrested
during operations in western Mosul.
The operation is part of a large scale offensive to
crackdown on insurgency.
Mosul is a volatile guerrilla stronghold 390 km (240
miles) north of Baghdad.
Since November, Mosul, Iraq's third largest city, has
become a new front for the fight against insurgents with
both US and Iraqi officials frequently announcing the
arrest of senior aides to Iraq's most wanted man Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi, the alleged frontman for the Al-Qaeda terror
network in the violence-ravaged country.
In Baghdad a senior U.S. diplomat survived an attack on
Monday (June 13) when a suicide car bomber struck a U.S.
military convoy, police sources said.
The U.S. official's identity was unclear. It was not
clear if he was specifically the target and a U.S. embassy
spokesman said he was unaware of the incident, adding that
he was unaware of any diplomatic convoy being struck.
An Interior Ministry spokesman and police had said
earlier that a U.S. military convoy had been attacked by a
suicide car bomber in the west of Baghdad around 2 p.m.
(1000 GMT) and that two civilians nearby had been killed
and five wounded.
Witnesses said a U.S. army Humvee was on fire after the
blast and said that a U.S. helicopter arrived to evacuate
the wounded. They said three U.S. soldiers were evacuated,
but the details could not be confirmed with the U.S.
military.
There has been a surge in suicide car bombings in Iraq
over the past six weeks, since a new, Shi'ite-led
government was formed, with many of them targeting Iraqi
police and soldiers.
Around 900 people have been killed in that time, most
of them civilians.
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