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| Militants kill 23 security forces men in Iraq |
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| BAGHDAD (AP): Militants killed 23 members of Iraq's security forces across the country Thursday in a combination of shootings and roadside bombs that was a bitter demonstration of the dangers Iraqi forces still face.
The worst attack came in Baghdad's Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah when 16 Iraqi security troops died in what appeared to have been coordinated killings by militants in a bold, daylight attack in the neighborhood that was once an insurgent stronghold, Iraqi police and army officials said.
Militants first started shooting at an Azamiyah checkpoint and then set it on fire, burning several of the soldiers' bodies, according to an army officer who was on patrol in the neighborhood. Minutes later, attackers detonated three roadside bombs nearby, the officials said.
A large pool of blood and what appear to be charred marks could be seen on the ground near an Iraqi army truck. Authorities immediately closed down the area.
Seventeen people were also wounded in the Azamiyah attack, which appeared concentrated around one street in the Sunni neighborhood.
The Azamiyah attack came in what was already a deadly day for Iraq's security forces. More than seven years after the US-led invasion, insurgents are increasingly targeting Iraqi security forces, as all but 50,000 US troops prepare to leave the country by the end of August. |
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