Two Iraqi policemen were killed in fierce clash with a group of gunmen who attacked a police checkpoint near a town in Salahudin province on Thursday, a provincial police source said.
The incident took place early in the morning when the gunmen stormed the checkpoint near the town of Dowr, 140 km north of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
A gunman was also killed in the fighting, the source said, adding that five other gunmen and four suspected accomplices were detained after a reinforcement police force rushed to the scene and chased the attackers in a nearby area.
The police believe that the attack came as a retaliatory action from the al-Qaida in Iraq network, after the Iraqi security forces detained nine suspected al-Qaida militants, including four leaders, in the Albu Ajil area at eastern suburb of Tikrit City, 170 km north of Baghdad, the source said.
The four al-Qaida leaders have been holing up in Albu Ajil area since they fled the fighting in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, the source added.
Source: Xinhua
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