Iraq police station death toll up to 18
Gunmen ambushed a police station in the Sunni Muslim heartland north of Baghdad today, killing at least 17 police officers and a guard at a nearby court while freeing prisoners held at the station.
The suspected insurgents struck at dawn, burning the police station in the city of Muqdadiyah and detonating a string of roadside bombs as they raced from the scene, said police Lieutenant Colonel Falah al-Mohammadewi. It was not immediately clear how many prisoners were released, he said.
More than 20 gunmen, who arrived at the station in five civilian cars, launched the attack, al-Mohammadewi said.
At least 13 others, including police officers and civilians, were injured in the attack in Muqdadiyah, which is about 60 miles north-east of the capital.
The ambush came a day after at least 39 people were killed by insurgents and shadowy sectarian gangs in Iraq. Reports yesterday showed that much of the violence targeted police.
Roadside bombs, one just a few hundred yards from an Interior Ministry lock-up in central Baghdad and one in a farming area near the so-called Triangle of Death south of Baghdad, killed at least seven police officials and one prisoner yesterday.
A policeman in a joint American-Iraqi patrol was killed in Baghdad during fighting with insurgents, and a car bomb targeting a police checkpoint exploded in Baqouba, 35 miles north-east of Baghdad, killing another policeman.
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