Al-Qaeda militants killed at least eight members of a police patrol in Baghdad today after shooting two Iraqi soldiers and stealing their vehicle, police said.
The al-Qaeda fighters drove up to the police patrol in the stolen Iraqi army vehicle before opening fire in an attack in southern Baghdad's Doura district, a predominantly Sunni Arab area and al-Qaeda stronghold.
Mainly Sunni Arab tribal sheikhs have been organising their young men into local police units, known as concerned local citizens, to drive out Sunni Islamist al-Qaeda. These units have been partly credited for falling levels of violence in Iraq.