Suicide car bombings strike Iraq
At least 13 people were killed as Iraqi security forces fought street gunbattles with suspected insurgents in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul after a suicide car bomber blew up a police patrol today, officials said.
Another suicide bomber killed three people on a football field.
Four policemen including a colonel were killed and eight were injured in the suicide car bombing early today in Al-Nour quarter in eastern Mosul, said provincial police commander Major General Within al-Hamdani.
The patrol had arrived in the area after light gunfire was reported there, said al-Hamdani.
He said the suicide bombing provoked pitched gunbattles that moved from street to street through five adjoining neighbourhoods in the Sunni majority city, located 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.
During the battles, police shot and killed eight insurgents in two car who were firing at them, said al-Hamdani. During the course of the battles, two other cars blew up but caused no casualties. Five cars loaded with explosives were also seized, said al-Hamdani.
Mosul is part of the so-called Sunni Triangle where much of the insurgency against US forces and the current pro-US government has taken place. Most of the top officers in the former Iraqi army of Saddam Hussein and his Republican Guard were from Mosul.
Curfew was imposed in the entire city and Iraqi forces took control of the streets after the fighting subsided, al-Hamdani said.
Also today, a suicide car bomber drove into a football field and blew up the vehicle and himself, killing three policemen who were among the players.
The incident occurred in Hatra, 45 miles southeast of Mosul, police Colonel Abdul Karim Ahmed Khalaf said.
