A FORMER Iraqi police commando blew himself up yesterday in a failed bid to assassinate the leader of the anti-insurgent Wolf Brigade, killing three other policemen in the process. The mainly Shi'ite Muslim force has been at the centre of controversy about aggressive methods and accusations of a sectarian "dirty war" on minority Sunnis. Bayan Jabor, an interior minister, said the suicide bomber, a former member of the unit, had walked into its Baghdad headquarters with the morning shift, wearing the brigade's uniform. Major General Mohammed Qureishi, the brigade's founder, was unhurt in the blast.
Better known by the nom de guerre Abu Walid, he runs his own television show, Terrorism in the Grip of Justice, on which alleged insurgents make confessions. "[The bomber] failed to reach him so he blew himself up in the courtyard," Jabor said. Two other former members of the unit were being hunted, he added. Body parts littered the compound, close to the interior ministry and police academy, which houses the Wolf Brigade. One officer was injured. |