DISPATCHES FROM IRAQ
Two Iraqis with ties to Hawai'i troops gunned down
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
KIRKUK, Iraq — Two Iraqi policemen — twin brothers who both had wedding plans this week — were shot and killed at a busy intersection yesterday in continuing violence aimed at Iraqis working with the United States.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
Two other police in the southwest section of the city were critically wounded in the 5:30 a.m. drive-by shooting.
Capt. Bill Venable, commander of Company C, 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, examines a blood-stained seat from a car in which two Iraqi police officers were killed yesterday in a drive-by shooting at a busy intersection in Kirkuk.
For police working in the city, and Schofield Barracks soldiers, it was a reminder of the continuing and shared perils of rebuilding Iraq.
The Magdad police station where the four officers are based is under the authority of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment. First Lt. Nick Workman, 24, a Charlie Company platoon leader, worked with the officers before.
"Every time you have personal experiences with somebody, it may not be the most in depth, but (a shooting like this) still triggers something in your mind — reality creeping up on you again, something can happen any day, any time."
Workman said he "kind of knew the surface personality traits" of the two 19-year-old policemen, Ahmed and Ali Kadim.
"They were young, energetic, and had a lot of enthusiasm for the job," Workman said, adding that the deaths are "a little tougher to swallow" because they were about to get married.
Ten Iraqi police officers were killed and 45 other people were injured in a car bombing in Kirkuk Feb. 23 in the first suicide attack against a police station.
There have been other attacks against police in Kirkuk, including an ambush several weeks ago in which an officer from the Domies station was killed.
The four officers fired on yesterday morning were near a white marked police sedan off the busy city thoroughfare and in a concrete kiosk at a traffic island, where multiple bullet strikes were visible.
At the Magdad station, the shot-up sedan was in a garage, and blood was mixed with broken glass on front and rear seats removed from the car.
Handren Mahdy, 24, a police officer for about one year, said "it affects us and we are all so sorry about (the shooting)."
"This is a very dangerous job. One day we will be killed. Maybe some will quit," translator Salar Kareem said, speaking for several police.
But being a police officer is a good job, they all said, adding they would stay on.
Charlie Company commander Capt. Bill Venable, who visited the shooting scene and police station, said the attacks are believed to be part of an effort to destabilize the peace in Kirkuk.
