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RAMADI (Iraq) - SIX Iraqi policemen and seven Al-Qaeda militants were killed on Friday when the militants attempted a pre-dawn breakout from a police station in the western city of Ramadi, police said.
'During an exchange of fire between prisoners trying to escape and police officers in the station, six policemen and seven prisoners were killed,' provincial police chief Tareq al-Dulaimi said.
Three prisoners managed to escape and one was re-arrested, Dulaimi said, adding that another four policemen were wounded in the shootout that occurred at 2am (2300 GMT Thursday, 7am Friday morning Singapore time) at Forsan police station in the centre of Ramadi.
Ramadi police have imposed a curfew in the city following the incident, an interior ministry source said, adding that three fugitive Al-Qaeda militants were 'emirs' or local chiefs.
The predominantly Sunni Arab city of Ramadi, capital of Anbar province, was a key Al-Qaeda stronghold in the aftermath of the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime by US-led forces in 2003.
But since 2006 local Sunni tribes there have sided with the US military to fight the jihadists. Daily violence has dropped dramatically in Anbar province as Al-Qaeda fighters have been pushed out of the region. -- AFP
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