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Iraqi cop took the brunt of insurgent attack
Abdelamir Najem Kazem, like all Iraqi policemen, had been warned to look out for the "clenched fist" sign of a suicide bomber.But as he checked the man in a long black coat, he spotted a hand grenade and hurled him to the floor near a Baghdad polling station, according to Kazem's commanding officier. Kazem and the bomber, who was believed to be Sudanese, were both killed on the spot outside a polling station in the Al-Yarmuk district of western Baghdad during Sunday's landmark election. The world has hailed the courage of Iraqis in turning out to vote in the midst of insurgent attacks and threats. But Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has called Kazem "the real hero of Iraq." It was one of nine suicide attacks carried out in Baghdad on Sunday for which the authorities had been preparing for months. According to interior ministry officials, the clenched fist is a sign that a suspect could have a detonator in his hand—and a belt of explosives around his chest. It was one of a few signs of an attack that police were told about. Officials are reluctant to divulge the others. Kazem, who was 34 and unmarried, had been a policeman during the regime of Saddam Hussein "He signed up again for the new police," said the officer in charge at the Al-Maamun police station, who gave his name as Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed, and refused to give his family name. The station covers the Al-Yarmuk district. "He was very good," said the colonel. Kazem had been in the first of three rings of security around the polling station when he saw the man in black. "He asked for his papers and then started to search him. He saw a grenade, realised it was a human bomb and pushed him to the ground with all his strength," said the station commander, quoting witness accounts. "He threw himself on top and the terrorist exploded the bomb he was carrying." US generals and Interior Minister Falah Naqib have described the tactics used by the insurgents as "horrific". The authorities suspect that one of the suicide attacks launched in Baghdad on Sunday was carried out by a mentally retarded youth. The attack in the poor Iskan neighbourhood of northwest Baghdad killed one person and injured several others. Other bombs have been loaded on donkey carts, trucks and even animals. The authorities say that banning vehicles from the streets of major cities on election day saved many lives. But there was little they could do to stop suicide attackers with bombs strapped to their bodies. According to the interior ministry, 36 people died in election day suicide bomb and mortar attacks. One suicide bomber killed seven people in western Baghdad. Another bomb destroyed a bus carrying Sunnis to a polling station, killing five people. Naqib said a Syrian was killed by security forces and the Sudanese died in the Baghdad attack. A Yemeni, two Saudis and an Egyptian were arrested, he added. According to an interior ministry source, a Chechen was also detained. "The terrorists were defeated yesterday; the terrorists know they cannot win," Allawi said at a press conference on Monday at which he lauded Kazem. Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-02-02 |
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