By Xinhua,
Mosul, Iraq : Unknown gunmen attacked a minibus carrying police recruits near the city of Mosul, killing 11 of them, a local police source said on Tuesday.
The attackers ambushed the minibus on Monday evening outside the town of Ba’aj, 80 km west of Mosul, showering the minibus with bullets, killing 11 of the recruits, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The attack came as the U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces are carrying out major offensive in Nineveh province and its capital Mosul to uproot al-Qaida militants in the province where they were believed to be regrouped after being defeated in Baghdad and other Iraqi provinces.
Maj. Gen. Kamal Hussein, Iraq’s Interior Ministry Undersecretary, told Xinhua on Monday night that the Iraqi security forces have arrested up to 1330 suspected insurgents since the start of the crackdown in Mosul early last week.