Headline PH: Gunmen rob gold shops in Iraqi capital, kill 15

BAGHDAD – Masked gunmen shot up a gold jewelry market in Baghdad Tuesday, killing 15 people before they fled with a large quantity of gold in their arms, police and hospital officials said.

The attack was the latest in a crime wave in the capital that has swelled over the past year as sectarian violence in Iraq has ebbed. Many of those involved are believed to be battle-hardened former insurgents unable to find legitimate work.

After the attacks in the southwestern neighborhood of Baiyaa, a dead body that police and witnesses said was one of the assailants was covered with a cloth on the bloodstained sidewalk amid shattered glass of the shop windows. The area was sealed off.

Mohammed Elaiwi Nassir, a witness who owns a real estate office nearby, said the attackers were heavily armed including with rocket-propelled grenades while security forces were slow to respond.

He told The Associated Press the gunmen arrived around 11:20 a.m. in five or six cars, one of them a minibus. Each vehicle had three masked gunmen inside, some armed with RPGs and others with machine-guns and pistols fitted with silencers.

"They started shooting into the air to clear the street and also threw percussion grenades," said 45-year old Nassir. "Then they started shooting directly the gold shops showcases from outside and scooping up gold in their hands," he added.

"The attack lasted for about 15 minutes during which only one policeman showed up, but he was shot in his shoulder and leg by the attackers. After thirty minutes, the security forces came."

By HAMID AHMED,
Associated Press Writer

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Gunmen rob gold shops in Iraqi capital, kill 15

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