Security forces evacuate the body of a security man killed during a gun battle between insurgents and the Police Intelligence Department following a complex assault in the religiously-mixed city of Kirkuk, 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2013. Police officials say the assault on Wednesday took place when a car bomb exploded at the gate of the Police Intelligence Department. Later, a suicide bomber entered the building and set off his explosive belt among police members. (AP Photo/Emad Matti)
December 04, 2013 - 11:40 PM
KIRKUK, Iraq - Police in Iraq say they have stormed a mall in a northern city that gunmen used to attack a police station, killing three militants and ending a hourslong standoff.
Gunmen hid on the roof of the six-story Jawahir mall in Kirkuk on Wednesday and opened fire on a police headquarters nearby in the city. The gunmen later shot at civilians fleeing the mall, trapping 11 shop owners inside.
Brig. Gen. Sarhad Qadir, Kirkuk's police commander, said officers stormed the mall Thursday morning before dawn, killing the gunmen. The attack left large parts of the mall burned.
Qadir said the attack Wednesday on the police headquarters, which also included a car bombing and a suicide bombing, killed five police officers and two civilians, while wounding some 70 people.
News from © The Associated Press, 2013