350 Iraqi police die in past year [View All]

[leftchick]

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,9080764%255E1702,00.html

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AN American soldier who died in a bomb explosion north of Baghdad is the latest casualty in Iraq.

Some 350 US-trained Iraqi police have been killed in the past year, and rebel attacks will likely increase before the coalition hands over sovereignty on June 30, the US military said today.

Insurgents have struck police north and south of the capital this week; they killed two police who were twin brothers, killed a provincial police chief and ambushed a van carrying police recruits, killing nine.

"We remain concerned at what is clearly a program of intimidation and targeting of not only the Iraqi police service, but all Iraqi government officials," said Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, the US military's deputy director of operations. "A significant number of Iraqi police have been killed in the past year, somewhere in the order of 350."