A fierce gunbattle in a Sunni neighbourhood of the Iraqi capital on Saturday saw four policemen killed and 10 people wounded, including eight police, said an interior ministry official.
The clashes broke out about 2.00 am in Saidiyah, a stronghold of Al Qaeda in southern Baghdad during the worst years of Iraq’s insurgency after the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
They occurred after a man whose car was stolen traced it to a nearby house and informed the police who came under fire when they arrived, the official said. “There was an exchange of fire from 2.00 am until dawn and four policemen were killed,” he said. “Ten people, including eight policemen, were injured.”
One wounded policemen who spoke to AFP from Yarmuk hospital in western Baghdad said a car bomb, a homemade bomb, a grenade, a silenced pistol and a rocket-propelled grenade were recovered during the clashes.