Baghdad: At least 63 people were killed and more than 100 others wounded in Tikrit, the hometown of former dictator Saddam Hussain, in an hours-long shootout between security forces and miscreants in provincial council building on Tuesday, a police official said.
“The latest toll is 63 dead and over 100 wounded, and there are many with serious injuries, Six of the dead were the attackers,” said the official, stationed at Tikrit’s main hospital.
“The security forces have now taken control the provincial council building,” a police official said, adding that three council members were among the dead.
The gunmen, wearing military uniforms and suicide jackets, had swarmed into the provincial council building in the city of Tikrit, about 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of Baghdad, immediately after a suicide bomber detonated his payload and cleared the way, according to security officials.
A car bomb exploded shortly afterwards as police reinforcements were arriving, they said.
“A police colonel, Imad Nofan, and his deputy were killed in the car bombing,” the police official said. The same explosion also killed journalist Sabah al-Bazi, who had reported for several local and international news organisations, the police official and other sources said.
Hospital sources said they had received the bodies of six attackers. They said two showed they had died after detonating their suicide vests, and four were killed by shots fired by security forces.
For several hours, it was unclear whether hostages were being held or how many. Police said employees were still inside the building while witnesses said that at least some had managed to flee from another exit.
It later emerged that some people were trapped inside, but details of how many, or what happened during the drama, remained sketchy.
“Police cannot approach because the gunmen are shooting from inside,” a police official said during the stand-off. “The attackers are all wearing suicide belts.”
He added that at least one had detonated his payload inside. He said all were dressed in military uniforms.
The attack began before 1 pm (2100 AEDT) and lasted for more than four hours.
Shortly afterwards, a curfew was imposed in Tikrit, capital of the Sunni-majority Salaheddin province, which has long been a bastion of a Sunni insurgency and remains the scene of bloody attacks.
In mid-January, a suicide bomber blew himself up and killed 50 people in a crowd waiting outside a police recruitment centre in Tikrit.
That blast, which also wounded up to 150, was the first major strike in Iraq since the formation of a new government on December 21.
There was no immediate claim of Tuesday’s attack, but officials said it bore the hallmark of Iraq’s Al-Qaeda affiliate.
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