Iraq Bombing Targets Security Forces

By Bobby Rajabi
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

HEET, Iraq – Coordinated bombings on January 7 targeted the homes of four police officers in western Iraq. The bombings took place in the Iraqi town of Heet and killed seven individuals. Among the dead was the town’s anti-terror chief. The bombings wounded six individuals. Heet is located thirty five miles

The attackers alleged planted explosives around the bedrooms of the policemen in the town. According to Lieutenant Colonel Fadhil Nimrawi, the head of Heet’s emergency response unit, “at 3:00am, men planted bombs around the bedrooms of four houses belonging to members of the police force, including Major Wali al-Heeti, the head of Heet’s anti-terror department.”

According to Nimwari, the dead include Heeti’s wife and mother, child and three other police officers. The four houses targeted were in different neighborhoods across the center of the city. No vehicles were being allowed in or out of the town as part of the ramped up security.

Nimwari also said that several people had been arrested in connection with the attack, but did not specify how many. Security forces were still looking into other people they suspected of being involved in the bombings. According to Sheikh Muhammad Abu Wissam, a tribal leader, “there are terrorist cells there and they are benefiting from an security breach to carry out more attacks.

Violence has been rising in Iraq as the country prepares for a March general election. The attack comes a week after a double suicide blast in the provincial capital Ramadi killed twenty five people and severely injured regional governor Qassim Mohammed. The Anbar Province, where Heet is located, will have over half its seven thousand five hundred American troops withdrawn by the end of the month.

The BBC reports that Anbar province was once a hotbed of insurgency, but two years ago, local Sunni tribes and their followers turned against the militants, and joined common cause against them with the Iraqi government and American forces. The province remained relatively calm for some time, but it appears to be suffering from a number of revenge attacks by Islamist militants.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Anti-terror Chief Among Seven Killed in Iraq Blasts – 7 January 2010

BBC – Iraq Bomb Attack on Senior Police Kills Eight – 7 January 2010

New York Times – Blasts Strike at Officials in Iraq’s West – 7 January 2010

Reuters – Bombings Target Iraqi Army Commander – 7 January 2010

Author: Impunity Watch Archive