Topic: US police trainer killed in Iraq

Media: AFP
Byline: n/a
Date: 23 October 2006

Body:


BAGHDAD, Oct 23, 2006 (AFP) - A Baghdad bomb attack killed an American
police officer working in Iraq on contract to the US military to train
local forces and wounded four soldiers, a military statement said Monday.

"An international police liaison officer was killed and four soldiers were
wounded at approximately 11.36 am Sunday, after their vehicle was struck by
an improvised explosive device in east Baghdad," a statement said.

The trainers are usually American police officers recruited by private
security firms and employed on contract by the US-led military in Iraq.

The attack came amid a surge in US military casualties that have put
October on course to be the bloodiest month since the battle of Fallujah in
November 2004, with 85 US troops killed over the past three weeks.

Iraq's fledgling police force has become a target of choice for insurgents
oppsed to the US-backed government. More than 4,000 local officers have
been killed in the past two years, including 17 in a rebel ambush on
Sunday.