Gunmen in police uniforms steal $550,000

Gunmen in police uniforms steal $550,000
By LAUREN FRAYER, Associated Press Writer
Wed Sep 12, 4:45 PM ET

BAGHDAD - Gunmen wearing police commando uniforms waylaid an armored truck Wednesday on a major Baghdad street, overpowered the guards and made off with about a half-million dollars in Iraqi currency, police said.

The robbers set up a fake checkpoint with two police vehicles along the Mohammed al-Qassim highway in eastern Baghdad, the police said, flagged down the armored truck and offered to escort it to its destination in downtown Baghdad.

Along the way, the estimated 10 gunmen forced the driver to pull over near a university campus, police said. There they handcuffed and gagged the truck's occupants — five guards, one accountant and a driver — and stole the money.

The victims then drew attention of passing motorists, who alerted police.

One officer quoted the accountant as saying the cash was being carried from a factory in the Zafaraniyah neighborhood to a private bank.

Two policemen from separate departments provided the information on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to speak to the media.

The assailants' identities were unknown, and it was unclear how they obtained uniforms and two Iraqi police vehicles, which they used for their escape.

But gunmen dressed as police have been responsible for other crimes over the past two years, including the May 29 abduction of four British security guards and a consultant who were seized from the Finance Ministry compound. All five remain missing.

Last December, gunmen wearing military uniforms stopped a bank delivery truck in Baghdad and stole about $1 million. A week later, gunmen in military uniforms raided a Baghdad bank and got away with the equivalent of $709,000, police said.

Police commandos are part of the Interior Ministry and their ranks are heavily infiltrated by Shiite militias. Last week, a U.S. committee led by retired Marine Gen. James Jones recommended the force be disbanded.

The Iraqi government dismissed the recommendation, saying the national police force plays a major role in the fight against Sunni and Shiite extremists.

Elsewhere, gunmen ambushed an Iraqi police checkpoint in northern Iraq, killing six officers in a complex attack. Militants packed into four cars raced up to the checkpoint south of Mosul on Wednesday afternoon, attacking it from both sides, said police Brig. Abdel-Karim al-Jubouri.

Four policemen were wounded, and the gunmen escaped, al-Jubouri said. He believed the attack was carried out by the al-Qaida front group the Islamic State of Iraq.

Also Wednesday, the U.S. military announced that American and Iraqi forces have captured more than 50 suspected insurgents this week.

Fifteen were picked up Wednesday during operations targeting al-Qaida in Iraq leaders in the north of the country. Two of them were suspected of plotting to attack the Mosul airfield during Ramadan, the Islamic holy month that begins this week, the military said.

Northern Iraq has seen an increase in violence since U.S. and Iraqi troops launched offensives this year to oust Sunni militants from the Iraqi capital and its surrounding areas.

Some al-Qaida-linked insurgents are believed to have fled north, digging into positions in the Sunni-dominated Mosul area.

To the south, gunmen in the al-Salam area of Diyala province opened fire on a car, killing two and wounding two, police said. An hour later in another area, assailants shot into a crowd in the town of Muqdadiyah, killing two and wounding two, police said.

The violence occurred after two days of congressional testimony by U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and the top commander, Gen. David Petraeus, on the situation in Iraq since President Bush's decision to send 30,000 reinforcements to try to stem sectarian violence.

Petraeus recommended keeping the bulk of U.S. forces in Iraq after next summer. The Associated Press has learned that Bush will tell the American people this week he plans to reduce the U.S. troop presence by next summer to pre-buildup levels.

The Iraqi government welcomed Petraeus' recommendation, saying the need for U.S. military support here would decrease over time.

Meanwhile, a Health Ministry official said a cholera outbreak in northern Iraq so far has been limited to three provinces.

Since the disease broke out in mid-August, 10 people have died and 700 others have been confirmed with cholera, said Adel Muhsin, the Health Ministry's inspector general. An additional 11,000 are suffering from severe diarrhea and vomiting, Muhsin said.

Cholera is a gastrointestinal disease that is typically spread by drinking contaminated water and can cause severe diarrhea that in extreme cases can lead to fatal dehydration.

Worst hit has been the city of Sulaimaniyah, with 4,600 cases of diarrhea and 300 cases of cholera, according to Sherko Abdullah of the regional health ministry department. Nine of the deaths were in the city, he said.

U.N. Development Program official Paolo Lembo said the outbreak was caused by the "inadequacy of the water supply system and deteriorated infrastructure" of the area.

Those wacky gunmen, will they never learn.

I think someone could go to parts of Iraq in a Star Trek uniform and hijack shit.

-HECK!

From the sounds of it,I could run naked up and down the street for an hour with a gun, then stroll into a bank, hold them up, and still have enough time to get on a plane to San Fransisco. They were lucky they weren't terrorists or nothing.


Did I say San Fransisco? I meant a less gay destination.