Three Iraqi Police Killed In Kirkuk

7 December 2005 -- Reports from the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk say three police officers have been killed today, 7 December, in a raid at a hospital by gunmen seeking to free a man accused of plotting to kill a judge serving in the trial of Iraq’s former dictator Saddam Hussein.

Six other police were reported wounded when gunmen opened fire at around 6 a.m. local time on officers who were guarding the suspect.

The detainee was reportedly freed by the attackers.

The suspect was alleged to have belonged to a group that had plotted to assassinate the investigating judge in the Hussein trial, Raed Juhi. He had been wounded when arrested along with other members of the cell that had been planning the assassination.

(AP/AFP)