Baghdad: Four men were killed
execution-style when gunmen swooped on their town south of
Baghdad on Monday, as five people were gunned down in a robbery on
a currency exchange office in the Iraqi capital.
A top police chief, meanwhile, survived a bomb attack in
Baghdad.
In a pre-dawn raid in Yusufiyah, gunmen wearing military
uniforms hauled six men from their homes and shot them. Four
died but two were wounded and survived, an interior ministry
official said.
The town, 25 kilometres south of Baghdad, is in a
Sunni-dominated region that was an al Qaeda stronghold until
2008, when local militiamen rose up against the insurgents.
Another interior ministry official said all the victims
were members of the Sahwa (Awakening) militia that was
instrumental in turning the tide against al Qaeda.
In Baghdad, assailants using silencers gunned down the
three owners of a currency exchange office on Rashid Street as
well as two customers before making off with their loot, the
ministry official said.
In another attack, a police major general was wounded and
his driver killed by a roadside bomb that targeted their
convoy in eastern Baghdad, the official said. The officer`s
bodyguard and a passer-by were wounded.
The officer heads the interior ministry`s criminal
evidence department.
The Sahwa, also known as the Sons of Iraq, were recruited
by the US military among Sunni Arab tribesmen and former
insurgents and played a key role in curbing violence that
claimed thousands of lives in 2006 and 2007.
Dozens of Sahwa fighters have been killed in acts of
retaliation in past months.
PTI
