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Subscribe to RSSA gang of gunmen disguised in military-style uniforms and carrying forged arrest warrants killed 25 police Monday, then hoisted the battle flag of al-Qaida in a carefully planned early morning shooting spree in western Iraq, officials said.
The killings in Haditha highlight al-Qaida's success in regaining a foothold in an area they once dominated through police executions and murdering city officials.
"We consider this attack as a serious security breach and we believe that al-Qaida or groups linked to it are behind this," said Mohammed Fathi, spokesman for the governor of Iraq's western Anbar province where Haditha is located.
By going after police, the militants demonstrate to the residents of Haditha, a desert city closer to the Syrian border than to Baghdad, how isolated they are from the central government's protection and intimidate those who want to join the security forces.
The city's proximity to the border, just 65 miles away, means it is vital territory to al-Qaida if they want to ramp up operations in Syria to help overthrow the government of President Bashar Assad. Already, Sunni militants who revile Assad because he's a member of an offshoot religion of Shiism are crossing from Iraq into Syria.
The attackers also kidnapped two senior officers from their homes.
A curfew was imposed on the town after the pre-dawn attack.
News channel Al Jazeera quoted a source as saying the attacks had exclusively targeted police personnel across several checkpoints. The death toll included two police colonels.
Police at the scene said three of the attackers were killed but the rest escaped. Fathi said only one insurgent's body has been identified. Such confusion is common in the immediate aftermath of an attack in Iraq.
Haditha is a former Sunni insurgent stronghold of about 85,000 people in a valley where the Euphrates River runs through the desert. It is halfway between Baghdad and the border town of al-Qaim, which for years was a station for insurgents coming into Iraq from Syria. Within a year of the 2003 U.S. invasion, Haditha was the headquarters for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the slain leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.
For many Iraqis, the city is a symbol of some of the worst atrocities during the war.
Reuters, The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.
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Get out of the Middle East...bring our troops home.
Ten years, 4,500 Americans killed, half a trillion spent, and it is still a mess.! We never should have been there, and after all this - what do we have? Go one more country over, and we have the same scenario. Will we ever learn?
They havent had peace in that part of the middle east for the last 2000 years. and they will not have one for the next 2000 years. And it is not for the USA to go back there and dictate. The war in their was really a waste of time, men and money.
notapolitical-hack, (yusay nice job O'Bama) WTH, are yu sooo stupiid that yu don no whoooooo put us into IRAQ twice over??? Twasn't Obummah & co. Twas thaa Bushy Boyzzz & their Carlyle OIL corp & WMD!
The Iraqis were killing themselves long before we ever invaded their country and will be killing themselves long after the illegal invasion ended. They don't want what we have because if they did, they would have it. Attempting to force our "system" on any other country is a fool's errand. We should instead concentrate on investing the money we waste on war on our own people and problems. Let's get our own house in order again.
No matter how you slant this one,the West mainly the USA is responsible for this. We convinced the public if we remove Saddam all else will be just Great. Bush and Chaney should be in Hague for war crimes. This is just the beginning of major destruction in the middle east and we caused it.
This is exactly why we should stay out of Middle East countries. They love violence and if they can't kill Americans they just kill each other for sport. Waring tribes and blood-lust. Nothing has changed here since the stone age....
Were all the Iraqi policemen all sleeping in the same checkpoint? How many gunmen did this take, about four? And to think, Nouri Al Maliki screamed at the US to get out, and that he and his people could protect their own country. It just proves he was wrong, but we're not going back to bail them out this time.
True, they wanted us out and we got out. Too late now because we are not going back. The same thing will happen with Afghanistan.
As soon as Saddam was ousted and there was sufficient proof that Iraq had no WMD, the US should have left Iraq. End of story. Oh, one more thing, no more financial aid.
Just another day in the land of Islam where for breakfast they plan how to kill and maim as many as they can. Their religion is from the dark side and they all never evolve into a higher plain. They are the scourge of the earth.
The bottom line is this... Muslims are dying in Iraq, not Americans. You can't argue with that.
True and it will be the same in Afghanistan when we leave soon.
Was it T.E. Lawrence who said about Arabs, "You will always be a silly people"?
i understand saddam was in cionstant defiance of un weapons inspectors per the terms of his surrender, but i wish his regime could somehow have been left in place. he and his sons were sadists who needed to go but too bad we couldnt have handpickedh some from his regime and kept them in place. muslim countrys are either ruled by dictators or anti west muslims. we should always choose the lesser of these two evils, even if that means a puppet ruler.
dudogger
Btw - $1 Trillion in rare earth metals projected to be present in Afghanistan. Dont' tell me you saw this on FOX NEWS . Where they lie lie lie @ lie
Should anyone want the USA to stop being the worlds policeman, properly secure our own countrys borders, stop our nations wreckless spending, and RESTORE OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS then vote for RON PAUL. Voting for anyone else including obama is just a vote to continue on this path of our nations destruction.
There was NO Al-Quida in Iraq until after we invaded. They should thank Bush for bringing them in.