18 April 2005 -- Iraqi police said today that an Iraqi police general was killed on his way to work in the main northern city of Mosul.
Police said Brigadier General Yunis Muhammad Sulaiman, police spokesman in Mosul, was killed in his car yesterday.
Police gave no more details.
Elsewhere in the country today, Iraqi security forces raided a town south of Baghdad after reports that Sunni militants had kidnapped some 100 Shi'ites. They found no evidence that anyone had been seized.
Army officials say the Iraqis troops -- backed by the U.S. military -- met no resistance during the raid. The soldiers found some stolen cars, ammunition, and bomb-making equipment but no hostages in or around the town of Madain.
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said yesterday that individuals affiliated with Al-Qaeda had seized hostages in the town to provoke a Sunni-Shi'ite civil war.
An Internet statement purportedly issued by the group said the hostage crisis was fabricated as a pretext for government forces to raid Madain, a Shi'ite-Sunni town some 30 kilometers from Baghdad.
Mosul, about 400 kilometers north of the capital Baghdad, is Iraq's third-largest city. It has experienced a surge in militant activity since November, when many insurgents are believed to have fled Al-Fallujah, west of Baghdad, ahead of a U.S.-led offensive.
(AFP)
More on the Madain raids:
Iraq: Army Finds No Sign Of Hostages As Rumors Rule The Country
Police gave no more details.
Elsewhere in the country today, Iraqi security forces raided a town south of Baghdad after reports that Sunni militants had kidnapped some 100 Shi'ites. They found no evidence that anyone had been seized.
Army officials say the Iraqis troops -- backed by the U.S. military -- met no resistance during the raid. The soldiers found some stolen cars, ammunition, and bomb-making equipment but no hostages in or around the town of Madain.
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said yesterday that individuals affiliated with Al-Qaeda had seized hostages in the town to provoke a Sunni-Shi'ite civil war.
An Internet statement purportedly issued by the group said the hostage crisis was fabricated as a pretext for government forces to raid Madain, a Shi'ite-Sunni town some 30 kilometers from Baghdad.
Mosul, about 400 kilometers north of the capital Baghdad, is Iraq's third-largest city. It has experienced a surge in militant activity since November, when many insurgents are believed to have fled Al-Fallujah, west of Baghdad, ahead of a U.S.-led offensive.
(AFP)
More on the Madain raids:
Iraq: Army Finds No Sign Of Hostages As Rumors Rule The Country