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04/16/2006:

"Ambush of police convoy leaves dozen missing"

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Dozens of Iraqi police officers were missing and feared dead Friday following an ambush of a motor vehicle convoy as incessant violence between the country's Shiite Muslim majority and Sunni Arab minority marred the Muslim day of worship.

The Thursday night ambush, laden with sectarian overtones, was recounted in confusing and contradictory official accounts that have come to characterize much of the inter-communal violence in Iraq.

It occurred near a U.S. base north of the capital as about 80 officers of the Shiite-dominated police force headed back to a police academy in the southern city of Najaf after picking up new vehicles from a training center in Taji, a stronghold of the Sunni-led insurgency.

Iraqis rarely travel the country's perilous roads at night, fearing bandits and insurgents. Maj. Gen. Abbas Karim, a police chief in Najaf, told reporters the convoy departed after U.S. officials refused to let the Iraqis spend the night at the base.
Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, an American spokesman, said the military had "no indication that there ever was any request to stay at a U.S. base."

The clash erupted between Iraqi police officers and suspected Sunni insurgents shortly after the convoy of 10 or so vehicles left the base.
detnews.com


Photographs From Iraq: March 22 - April 12, 2006