Ten Iraqi policemen killed in five Baghdad attacks

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – At least 10 Iraqi policemen were shot
dead in five separate attacks in Baghdad on Tuesday, an
Interior Ministry official said.

In one attack, four policemen on patrol were killed by
insurgents with automatic weapons on a major highway in the
eastern part of the capital.

The attacks all took place between 7:30 a.m. and 9 a.m.
(0330-0500 GMT).

In the southern Baghdad district of Doura a police captain
and his driver were killed, and in nearby Zafaraniya an officer
in the Interior Ministry’s Major Crimes Unit was shot dead in
his car.

Two police officers were gunned down in eastern Baghdad’s
Zayouna district, and gunmen shot dead one policeman and
wounded three in an attack on a patrol in the poor northern
suburb of al-Shu’ula.

The government expects Iraqi police and security forces to
take over security from U.S. forces once they can stand up to
guerrillas on their own.

But Iraqi forces can barely protect themselves against the
numerous guerrilla attacks which have killed hundreds of their
comrades.