Report: Dozens of Diyala police abandon posts after death threats

Recent graduates of the Police Academy in Diyala province

Dalouiya, March 15, (VOI) – Scores of Iraqi policemen working in Dalouiya district, 90 km north of Baghdad, quit work on Thursday after they received death threats from an al-Qaeda linked group, while U.S. and Iraqi forces clashed with gunmen there, a police source said.

"Dozens of policemen from Dalouiya police department quit work this morning after they received death threats from the so-called Islamic State in Iraq armed group," the source, who asked not to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

He added, "two police stations and a permanent checkpoint in the town were empty of personnel."

The source said that it is the first time the police in the town, a Sunni area, had been threatened.

Meanwhile, the source said that fierce clashes broke out this afternoon between gunmen and Iraqi troops backed by U.S. forces.

"The clashes that erupted near a bridge in Dalouiya lasted for an hour while U.S. choppers and armored vehicles took part in the gunfight," he added.

The source could not say if there were casualties among the Iraqi soldiers and there was no immediate comment from the U.S. army on the clashes.

From VOI

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