Gunmen kill 27 policeman in west Iraq checkpoint
Gunmen killed 21 policemen in an attack on checkpoints in the western Iraqi city of Haditha early Monday. Lieutenant Colonel Owaid Khalaf said dozens of attackers carried out the attacks at checkpoints across the city. The attacks began at 02:00 (23:00 GMT Sunday) with the kidnapping of two senior officers from their homes. They were later found shot dead. The gunmen, some wearing military uniforms, then moved through the city, shooting police at checkpoints.
The attack in Haditha is the first major instance of violence in the town since a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a bank, killing nine people, including three police officers, and wounding eight others on March 2011. Mohammed Fathi, spokesman for the governor of Anbar province, said the latest attack bore the "fingerprints of al Qaeda".