Gunmen in Iraq ambushed a minibus carrying police translators, trainers and cleaning workers from a police academy to the southern city of Basra today, reportedly killing 17 people.
The minibus was taking them from a police academy under the supervision of British forces in a town 12km from Basra.
The police source said the gunmen shot their victims in the head and the chest and dumped the bodies around Basra.
The past week has seen a string of attacks on Iraqi police and soldiers, underlining the challenge faced by the government and its US backers in building up an Iraqi force capable of taking over security from US troops.
Yesterday, gunmen kidnapped 11 Iraqi soldiers travelling in a minibus at a fake checkpoint in a town north of Baghdad, according to Iraqi and US officials.
That followed two major ambushes of police in and around the town of Baquba, north of Baghdad, that killed 28 policemen on Thursday and at least 13 last Sunday.
