Suicide bomb kills Iraqi police chief at site of previous attack

January 24, 2008

A suicide bomber killed a high-ranking police chief and two other police officers in Mosul, Iraq, at the site of an explosion that had killed at least 34 people and wounded at least 217 the day before.

Brig. Gen. Salah Mohammed al-Jubouri, the director of police for Ninawa Governorate, was inspecting the scene of Wednesday's blast when gunmen ambushed his convoy. As he was preparing to flee, the bomber, dressed as a police officer, walked up to al-Jubouri and detonated the bomb. al-Jubouri was rushed to a hospital, where he later died.

According to the United States military, a U.S. soldier, an Iraqi soldier, and three Iraqi police officers were wounded in the blast. The military believes that al-Qaeda was behind the attacks.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said, "This crime exposes the moral bankruptcy of the terrorists after a string of defeats at the hands of our armed forces."

In response to the attacks, authorities in Mosul banned all vehicle traffic and placed the downtown area under an indefinite curfew.

The search for victims of Wednesday's explosion continues, as Iraqi and American forces work to clear away the rubble from damaged buildings, including a three-story apartment block that had collapsed.

"Whole families have vanished. There are still people trapped under the rubble. The casualty toll may increase," said Hisham al-Hamdani, head of Nineveh's provincial council.