{"id":419600,"date":"2011-05-08T13:22:15","date_gmt":"2011-05-08T13:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/05\/08\/officials-suspect-in-baghdad-church-siege-grabs-gun-kills-17\/"},"modified":"2011-05-08T13:22:15","modified_gmt":"2011-05-08T13:22:15","slug":"officials-suspect-in-baghdad-church-siege-grabs-gun-kills-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/08\/officials-suspect-in-baghdad-church-siege-grabs-gun-kills-17\/","title":{"rendered":"Officials: Suspect in Baghdad church siege grabs gun, kills 17"},"content":{"rendered":"
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More than 70 people were killed at the siege at Our Lady of Salvation Church, Baghdad, above, in October 2010.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • NEW: Death toll has surged to 17, including six officers<\/li>\n
  • Official: Another suspect in the church siege is among the wounded<\/li>\n
  • The suspect was being escorted when he opened fire, the interior ministry says<\/li>\n
  • Police say the suspect, Huthaifa al-Batawi, is dead after a gunfight<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n

    Baghdad (CNN)<\/strong> — 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.<\/p>\n

    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.<\/p>\n

    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.<\/p>\n

    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.<\/p>\n

    Al-Batawi was subsequently killed in a gunfight inside the ministry compound.<\/p>\n

    An investigation is under way to determine whether al-Batawi acted alone, the ministry said.<\/p>\n

    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.<\/p>\n

    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.<\/p>\n

    Most of the hostages were killed or wounded when the attackers set off explosives inside the church, defense ministry officials said at the time.<\/p>\n

    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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

    [Read more here|Read the original here|Read more from the original source|Continued here|Read more|More here|View original post here|More|See more here|See original here|Originally posted here|Here is the original post|See the original post|The rest is here|Read the rest here|See the rest here|Go here to read the rest|Go here to see the original|See the original post here|Read the original post|Original post|Read the original|Link|Excerpt from|View post|Visit link|Follow this link|Continue reading here|See the article here|Read this article<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    More than 70 people were killed at the siege at Our Lady of Salvation Church, Baghdad, above, in October 2010. STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: Death toll has surged to 17, including six officers Official: Another suspect in the church siege is among the wounded The suspect was being escorted when he opened fire, the interior ministry says Police say the suspect, Huthaifa al-Batawi, is dead after a gunfight 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. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":416084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-419600","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-local-news"},"yoast_head":"\nOfficials: Suspect in Baghdad church siege grabs gun, kills 17 - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/08\/officials-suspect-in-baghdad-church-siege-grabs-gun-kills-17\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Officials: Suspect in Baghdad church siege grabs gun, kills 17 - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"More than 70 people were killed at the siege at Our Lady of Salvation Church, Baghdad, above, in October 2010. 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