Hundreds of Iraqi policemen 'poisoned'
Bug struck a camp in town of Numaniyah in the Wasit province
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Monday, 09, Oct 2006 01:11
Investigations are underway in southern Iraq today after several hundred police officers were left in critical conditions after being struck down with food poisoning at a base in the town of Numaniyah in the Wasit province.
The environment ministry has claimed that 11 people have died from the bout although this has not yet been confirmed by the health ministry which is trying to ascertain whether the poisoning was intentional.
Jassim al-Atwan, an inspector in the investigation, told the Associated Press news agency that many of the policemen afflicted began bleeding from the ears and nose after eating a meal while dozens fainted immediately after leaving the hall.
Lieutenant-Colonel Hasan Nima has claimed that at least 1,350 of the 2,000 policemen at the base were hospitalised while Wasit governor Hamad al-Latif said he expects the number of fatalities to grow.
All food and water at the training base are provided by an Australian contractor working through Iraqi subcontractors, Mr Al-Latif said. These companies are currently being questioned over the outbreak.
Meanwhile, the brother of Iraq's vice-president, Tariq al-Hashimi, has been killed today in his Baghdad home.
General Amir al-Hashimi and a defence ministry adviser were shot dead by masked gunmen in military uniforms after they broke into his home, Brigadier Qassim al-Moussawi, the government spokesman said.
Also today, two policemen were killed and 12 more wounded after a car bomber targeted an Iraqi police checkpoint in Tal Afar, north-west of Baghdad.
"A suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden car into a checkpoint manned by policemen and detonated it at about 07:30 (05:30 BST) in Tal Afar, some 60 km west of Mosul," Brigadier Yasir al-Jubouri from the Nineveh provincial police said, in quotes carried by the Xinhua news agency.
"Though policemen shot at the attacker before he reached the checkpoint, he managed to blow his car up, killing two policemen and wounding 12 people, including two more policemen."