Fifteen killed in Baghdad bank siege

Smoke billows from the scene of one of eight explosions that rocked the Iraqi capital Baghdad yesterday within minutes of each other, killing at least two people, according to an interior ministry official.Photo: AFP

Suicide bombers and gunmen wearing military uniforms killed 15 people and took hostages yesterday in a daring raid on the Iraq Central Bank in Baghdad, triggering an ongoing siege with security forces.
The violence began at around 2:50 pm (1150 GMT) when a suicide attacker wearing an army captain's uniform detonated his payload near the building, causing multiple casualties, a high-ranking defence ministry official said.
The attackers took control of the building as a total of eight explosions sounded throughout the area in less than an hour amid exchanges of gunfire and as army helicopters circled overhead.
The gunmen were continuing to occupy the building and the attackers had posted snipers on the roof of the bank in an attempt to deter police and soldiers from wrestling back control, according to the defence official.
Most of those killed were bank workers, with a further 43 people wounded, and many other employees are being held captive inside, said an interior ministry official who gave the toll.
Major General Qassim Atta, a spokesman for the security forces in Baghdad, said soldiers and police were "besieging" the attackers whom he described as "a terrorist group."
He said it was unclear if they had intended to rob the bank, target its employees and take hostages, or destroy the building.
Government figures showed that 337 people were killed in violence across Iraq in May, the fourth time this year that the overall death toll has been higher when compared with the same month of 2009.
The audacious attack came one day before the reopening of the conflict-torn nation's parliament, the country's second democratic grouping since the US-led invasion that ousted dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.