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Baghdad: Suspected Sunni insurgents ambushed a minibus carrying Iraqi police recruits near the Syrian border on Monday, killing all 11 passengers, Iraqi officials said, the first deadly attack since Iraqi forces launched a major sweep against Al Qaida fighters in the region.
The gunfire came hours after Iraqi officials said they arrested a man suspected of being Al Qaida in Iraq's chief leader in the northern city of Mosul, the terror network's most prominent urban stronghold.
The attack, the bloodiest in months against police, left the minibus riddled with bullets in the desert west of Mosul, where the crackdown has been centred. Some Al Qaida fighters are believed to have fled the city toward neighbouring Syria.
Police discovered the bodies of the police recruits and their minibus near Baaj, a remote town 20 miles from the Syrian border, according to a provincial official in Baaj and a Mosul police officer. The policemen, most from Baaj, were returning from their recruitment camp, they said.
The provincial official said the attack had the hallmarks of Al Qaida in Iraq and could have been in retaliation for the Mosul crackdown, launched more than a week ago. The US military said it was looking into reports of the attack.
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