Several die in Baghdad store attack
Attackers wearing Iraqi police commando uniforms have killed at least eight people and wounded three in a raid on an electronics store in western Baghdad, police sources say.
A hospital source put the toll at nine – three women and six men – from Wednesday’s raid on al-Ibtikar Trade Contracting Company in the relatively affluent Mansour neighbourhood.
The attackers arrived at the store in five black BMWs in the morning, police Lieutenant Maitham Abdul-Razzaq said.
The motive of the attack was not known. The assailants burned part of the building and appeared to have taken no money, Abdul-Razzaq said.
The past week has seen a spate of attacks and robberies by uniformed raiders on electronics stores and other businesses in the city.
On Monday and Tuesday, 35 people were abducted in four attacks, two of them on electronics dealers. The fate of those kidnapped is unknown.
Since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the end of international sanctions three years ago, Baghdad has seen big demand for previously unattainable consumer goods, at least among that portion of the population not living in deep poverty.
On Tuesday, police said raiders in police uniform got away with more than $50,000 in US dollars and Iraqi dinars from a currency exchange office.