Officials: Suspect in Baghdad church siege grabs gun, kills 17

Baghdad (CNN) — An Iraqi man accused in an October siege at a Baghdad church grabbed a police officer’s gun while being moved from a detention cell Sunday and opened fire, killing 17 people, a military spokesman said.

The victims included six police officers, said Gen. Qassim Atta of Baghdad Operations Command. Several others were wounded, including another suspect in the church seige.

The shooter was identified as Huthaifa al-Batawi, described by Iraqi officials as the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the “mastermind, direct supervisor and planner” of the October 2010 siege at Our Lady of Salvation Church that left more than 70 people dead and 75 more wounded.

Al-Batawi, who was handcuffed, was being moved from a detention cell inside the interior ministry compound to an office where he was to be questioned in the investigation when he grabbed the gun, the ministry said.

Al-Batawi was subsequently killed in a gunfight inside the ministry compound.

An investigation is under way to determine whether al-Batawi acted alone, the ministry said.

Interior ministry officials said al-Batawi had confessed after his November 2010 arrest to his role in the church siege. He told Iraqi authorities he was the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group that includes a number of Sunni extremist organizations and has ties to al Qaeda in Iraq. The Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility for the Baghdad church siege.

As many as 120 people were taken hostage inside the church. Gunmen held them for hours before security forces stormed in to end the standoff, arresting eight suspects.

Most of the hostages were killed or wounded when the attackers set off explosives inside the church, defense ministry officials said at the time.

Al-Batawi and the other gunmen were demanding that the Iraqi government release a number of prisoners, saying the Christian hostages would be freed in return, according to officials at the time.