IRAQ: MORTAR LANDS ON MOSQUE WOUNDING AT LEAST TWO PEOPLE AS INSURGENTS ATTACK POLICE CAR KILLING THREE PEOPLE

Record ID: 649181

  • Title: IRAQ: MORTAR LANDS ON MOSQUE WOUNDING AT LEAST TWO PEOPLE AS INSURGENTS ATTACK POLICE CAR KILLING THREE PEOPLE
  • Date: 20th December 2004
  • Summary: (W3) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (DECEMBER 19, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. SLV /MV EXTERIOR OF IBN TAYMIYA MOSQUE; SLV RUBBLE OF CONCRETE ON STEPS OF MOSQUE; SLV CONCRETE RUBBLE IN GARDEN OF MOSQUE (7 SHOTS) 0.47 (AUDIO AS INCOMING):- 2. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) IMM AND PREACHER OF MOSQUE , SHEIKH ALI AL-MASHADANI, SAYING: "A mortar landed on the mosque at 0700 a.m. (0500 GMT) this day and caused structural damage to mosque and wounded some people, one of them seriously." 1.10 3. SLV RUBBLE IN MOSQUE GARDEN; WIDE SHOT OF HAIFA STREET/ TRAFFIC ON STREET/ WRECKAGE OF BURNED OUT POLICE CAR WHICH GUNMEN TARGETTED, DRAGGING THREE PEOPLE FROM THE CAR AND SHOOTING THEM DEAD 1.26 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 4th January 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVAEWJGMHUFYNVRN1XR7535OVS67
  • Story Text: A mortar landed on a mosque wounding at least two
    people as insurgents attacked a police car in Baghdad,
    killing three people.

    A mortar was fired at a Sunni mosque on Sunday
    (December 19, 2004), wounding at least two people and causing
    slight structural damage to the mosque.

    The mortar hit the facade of Ibn Taymiya Mosque in the
    morning, scattering rubble of concrete bricks on the garden
    and the front steps of the mosque.

    "A mortar landed on the mosque at 0700 a.m. (0500 GMT)
    this day and caused structural damage to mosque and wounded
    some people, one of them seriously," said Imam and preacher
    of the Mosque, Sheikh ali al-Mashhadani.

    The mosque was raided and searched by the U.S. forces
    and Iraqi security forces many times over the past months
    and weapons were found inside mosque.

    Meanwhile, gunmen fired on a police car as it drove
    through a violent neighbourhood of central Baghdad on
    Sunday, then dragged three passengers from the vehicle and
    shot them dead, witnesses said.

    A police source said they could be employees of Iraq's
    Electoral Commission which is overseeing the setting up and
    conducting of Iraq's election set for Jan. 30.

    Witnesses said the people pulled from the car were
    wearing civilian clothes although they were travelling in a
    police car.

    A spokesman for the Electoral Commission, Farid Ayar,
    said they were checking reports that some victims were
    junior employees of the commission. No members of the
    Commission's board were involved, he added.

    The attack occurred in Haifa Street, a major
    thoroughfare in downtown Baghdad that has become a focal
    point of the insurgency in the capital. There are frequent
    attacks in the area.

    After the men were killed their vehicle was set on
    fire. The bodies were left lying in the street by the burnt
    out wreckage.

    Insurgents armed with AK-47 assault rifles and pistols
    then set up a roadblock on the street, stopping and
    searching every car that passed, pointing their guns in
    through the windows, the witnesses said.



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