|
Traffic avoids the scene of a drive-by shooting in Mosul, Iraq on Sunday. A Canadian and a Briton who were working as security guards for foreign electrical engineers in a city in northern Iraq were killed by gunmen on Sunday in an apparent effort to undermine reconstruction efforts. |
Baghdad — A Canadian and a Briton who were working as security guards for foreign electrical engineers in a city in northern Iraq were killed by gunmen on Sunday in an apparent effort to undermine reconstruction efforts there.
U.S. soldiers and Iraqi police sealed off the area in Mosul after the shooting. Witnesses saw two partly burned bodies, clad in blue clothing and flak jackets, lying beside a four-wheel-drive vehicle that was on fire. One man had been shot in the head.
In Ottawa, the Foreign Affairs Department confirmed a Canadian had been killed and that officials were trying to contact his family. In London, the Foreign Office confirmed that one Briton was killed.
The two men were assigned to protect foreign engineers working for General Electric Co., a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition said on condition of anonymity.
Earlier, an Iraqi official at the power station in East Mosul said the slain men were protecting experts working at the station. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said a second car carrying experts escaped the attack.
General Electric is involved in efforts to rebuild Iraq's decrepit electrical infrastructure, which has suffered from bombing and years of sanctions. Power blackouts are frequent.
Insurgents have targeted foreign civilians who were working on reconstruction projects in Iraq. Earlier this month, four American missionaries working on a water project were shot to death in Mosul. One missionary survived with injuries.
On Sunday afternoon, a U.S. military vehicle was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in the western suburbs of Mosul, witnesses said. American soldiers sealed off the area. The U.S. military had no immediate comment.
Also Sunday, assailants detonated a bomb in Baqouba, a city northeast of Baghdad, injuring five bystanders, including two children. It was unclear whether the blast targeted a policeman who lives near the site of the explosion, or the house of a carpenter who has received threats because he has worked for U.S. forces.
The blast in Baqouba, where anti-U.S. insurgents are active, wounded an eight-year-old boy and his 10-year-old sister, police Capt. Mohammed Hadi said. The policeman and the carpenter were unharmed.
Further north, in Kirkuk, a bomb exploded at an intersection where police cars park daily. Three civilians were injured, police Col. Dashti Aziz said. As bystanders gathered after the blast, gunmen opened fire from a passing car, but there were no casualties. Police said the shooters were later apprehended.
Rebels routinely target police and other Iraqis working with the coalition that is governing Iraq, but civilians often get caught in the crossfire.