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Seven
Iraqi Policemen Killed In Baghdad Blast
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U.S.-trained
Iraqi policemen at the scene of the attack
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DOHA,
July 5 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Up to seven Iraqi
policemen were killed and 15 wounded Saturday, July 5, when explosives
were hurled into the courtyard of the police station in the town of
Ramadi, 100 kilometers west of Baghdad, witnesses said.
"Strangers
threw explosives Saturday at 11 am (0700 GMT) when the U.S. army was
training Iraqi police," Fares Mostafa, 35, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) from
the hospital where the victims were taken.
Al-Jazeera
correspondent on the ground said there are two versions among Iraqis
about the cause of the attack.
The
first one says that the incident is the making of U.S. troops, who
want to tarnish the image of Iraqi resistance and pit local Iraqis and
resistance elements against each other.
While
the second one suggests that Iraqi resistance fighters targeted
U.S.-trained Iraqi policemen to force them not to comply with the
orders of U.S. troops.
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Victims'
blood on the ground near the police station
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After
the attack, one policeman took off his uniform, shouting: "They
(U.S. troops) have to leave us alone and train other people…We can't
work under such circumstances," according to Al-Jazeera
correspondent.
He
added that an ambulance had "rushed to the site to evacuate the
injured" and that U.S. military reinforcements had been
dispatched to the site of the explosion.
The
incident comes one day after U.S. troops shot
dead 11 Iraqis who allegedly attempted to ambush an American
patrol north of Baghdad.
The
attack occurred near Balad, around 75 kilometers (45 miles) north of
the Iraqi capital.
On
Thursday, July 3, a U.S. soldier was
killed in Baghdad while 19 others were wounded in a mortar attack
near Balad as Iraqi resistance attacks go unabated since U.S.
President George W. Bush declared the war effectively
over on May 1.
Ousted
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein purportedly said in
an audiotape released by Al-Jazeera Friday that he was still
inside Iraq and that "Jihad cells" had already been formed
"on large scale" across the country to resist the occupation.
Asked
if the airing of the audiotape would affect the U.S. search operation
for Iraqi fighters, Sergeant Amy Abbott of the U.S. military in
war-scarred country told AFP: "It is an ongoing operation.
"It
is continuing without any hindrance whatsoever," she stressed,
adding defiantly: "The operation will be effective
regardless."
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