Gunmen rob gold shops in Iraqi capital, kill 15

[May 25, 2010]  BAGHDAD (AP) -- Masked gunmen attacked gold shops in Baghdad Tuesday, killing 15 people before they fled with a large quantity of gold, police and hospital officials said.

The assailants came to the southwestern neighborhood of Baiyaa in five cars shortly before noon, their faces covered with traditional Arab headscarves. They first set off a roadside bomb near the shops, killing four bystanders and wounding three, city police officials said.

Then they opened fire on 12 shops, killing nine gold shop owners or their workers and two bystanders. They threw percussion grenades into the shops as a distraction, then fled, police said.

A hospital official confirmed the number of casualties. All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

As Iraq's sectarian bloodshed has ebbed, a new threat from violent crime has cropped up and jewelry stores have been frequent targets. Homes, cars, currency exchanges, pawn shops and banks have also been hit.

But Tuesday's attack was one of the deadliest in the upswing.

Many of those involved in the crime wave are believed to be battle-hardened former insurgents unable to find legitimate work. They often bring the same brutality to their crimes that they used in Sunni-Shiite sectarian warfare in 2006 and 2007.

There are few statistics tracking the number and kinds of crimes, in part because the government remains focused on the bombings and other insurgent attacks that continue throughout Iraq.

But crime has added to the woes of ordinary Iraqis, already plagued by years of war and a lack of electricity and other services.

In April last year, Iraq created a military task force to battle gangland-style crime after gunmen killed at least seven people during a daylight heist of jewelry stores.

In one of the most sensational crimes in recent years last July, several members of Iraq's presidential guards -- who protect senior officials -- broke into the state-run Rafidain Bank and stole about 5.6 billion Iraqi dinars, or $4.8 million. They tied up eight guards at the bank in central Baghdad and shot each one execution-style.

In October, at least eight people were killed during a shootout following the robbery of two jewelry stores in Baghdad. The robbers stole gold and money.

[Associated Press; By SAAD ABDUL-KADIR]

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