BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Al Qaeda militants killed at least eight members of a neighbourhood police patrol in southern Baghdad on Thursday after shooting two Iraqi soldiers and stealing their vehicle, police said.
The al Qaeda fighters drove up to the police patrol in the stolen Iraqi army vehicle before opening fire in an attack in the Hawr Rajab area of southern Baghdad's Doura district, a predominantly Sunni Arab area and al Qaeda stronghold.
An Interior Ministry official confirmed that eight "Awakening Council" members had been killed. He said three Iraqi soldiers were also killed and another three were wounded.
Mainly Sunni Arab tribal sheikhs have been organising their young men into local police units, known as concerned local citizens, to drive out Sunni Islamist al Qaeda, which have been partly credited for falling levels of violence in Iraq.
-
Evangelical leader resigns canon title over controversial same-sex blessings
-
Worship leader Ron Kenoly dies at 81
-
New church movement seeks to overturn landmark gay marriage ruling
-
Reports of persecution and church raids in Russian-occupied Ukraine
-
Armenian government accused of violating freedom of religion and speech after clergy arrests
-
Peers challenge extreme abortion law proposals in Crime and Policing Bill
Most Popular
News
Prince and Princess of Wales visit Lambeth Palace to meet new Archbishop of Canterbury
The Prince and Princess of Wales have paid an official visit to Lambeth Palace.
Pastor, daughter and son-in-law slain in Plateau state, Nigeria
Fulani herdsmen last month killed a pastor, his daughter and her husband, leaving the couple’s 3-month-old baby with a machete wound, in Plateau state, Nigeria.
Christian group welcomes British sanctions on Iranians
Britain stopped shot of designating the Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organisation.
2,000-year-old 'Pilgrim's Path' opens in Jerusalem
An ancient road that may have been built in the days of Jesus and led up to the Jerusalem Temple Mount has been opened to the public for the first time.