ODShowtime
11-17-2004, 01:22 PM
Police Say 31 Iraqi Cops Were Kidnapped
Wed Nov 17, 9:44 AM ET Middle East - AP
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Police said Wednesday that 31 Iraqi policemen have been kidnapped in western Iraq (news - web sites) while returning from training in Jordan.
The police officers were ambushed Sunday in the town of Rutba near the Jordanian border, said a police spokesman in the city of Karbala, south of Baghdad.
"There was an attack on a hotel occupied by policemen coming back from training in Jordan," he said.
The spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity, cited a Karbala policeman who returned from Rutba as saying that an armed group had kidnapped the policemen, many of whom were from Diyala province.
Insurgents have repeatedly targeted new members of the Iraqi security forces that the U.S. military has been training. On Oct. 23, gunmen ambushed a group of Iraqi soldiers returning home from a training course on a road east of Baghdad. Around 50 of the soldiers — who were unarmed — were killed execution-style with gunshots to the back of the head.
Also last month, nine Iraqi policemen returning from a training course in Jordan were ambushed and killed on their way home to Karbala.
The bus they were traveling in was attacked Oct. 16 in the insurgent hotbed town of Latifiyah, 25 miles south of Baghdad.
I don't know about you guys, but I think I'd go down swinging if I was captured in Iraq. Hostages don't have very good odds of survival. How the hell can you round up 31 captives at once? These guys must be semi-competent.
Wed Nov 17, 9:44 AM ET Middle East - AP
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Police said Wednesday that 31 Iraqi policemen have been kidnapped in western Iraq (news - web sites) while returning from training in Jordan.
The police officers were ambushed Sunday in the town of Rutba near the Jordanian border, said a police spokesman in the city of Karbala, south of Baghdad.
"There was an attack on a hotel occupied by policemen coming back from training in Jordan," he said.
The spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity, cited a Karbala policeman who returned from Rutba as saying that an armed group had kidnapped the policemen, many of whom were from Diyala province.
Insurgents have repeatedly targeted new members of the Iraqi security forces that the U.S. military has been training. On Oct. 23, gunmen ambushed a group of Iraqi soldiers returning home from a training course on a road east of Baghdad. Around 50 of the soldiers — who were unarmed — were killed execution-style with gunshots to the back of the head.
Also last month, nine Iraqi policemen returning from a training course in Jordan were ambushed and killed on their way home to Karbala.
The bus they were traveling in was attacked Oct. 16 in the insurgent hotbed town of Latifiyah, 25 miles south of Baghdad.
I don't know about you guys, but I think I'd go down swinging if I was captured in Iraq. Hostages don't have very good odds of survival. How the hell can you round up 31 captives at once? These guys must be semi-competent.