Top Iraqi police officer killed in Basra

A top Iraqi provincial police chief and his three bodyguards have been killed in Basra.

Gunmen ambushed the convoy of a top Iraqi provincial police chief while he was in the southern city of Basra on Monday and shot him dead along with his three bodyguards, police said.

HT Image

Colonel Qassim Obeid, the inspector general of Dhi Qar provincial police, was ambushed in central Basra's Al-Aswad street by gunmen, who sprayed his convoy with bullets, Basra police spokesman Colonel Karim al-Zaidi told AFP.

Obeid and three of his bodyguards were killed, he said.

Zaidi said Obeid was recently transferred to Dhi Qar from Basra and was visiting the southern port city to hand over to his successor when he was killed.