Colonel Salaam, commander of Hilla SWAT was a local hero who fought the Mahdi and didn't let politics get the way of battling crime and terrorism.
He was extremely supportive of the democratic process in the south central region and provided reinforcements & supplies without question.
Several times we were guests of his for lunch in the office he was killed in.
3000 attended his funeral and he was escorted by 5th SFG.
Others killed included his 2IC, a Major.
Hilla SWAT is one of the only effective Iraqi fighting units operating in this country. They are highly trained and aggresive compared to regular IA/IP.
*Correction to the article: The locals did not 'nickname' Hilla SWAT. SWAT is SWAT and was named that when the unit was formed by SF.
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http://asia.news.yahoo.com/061013/afp/061013084317top.html
Bomb kills head of Iraqi 'SWAT team'
Photo: AFP
Click to enlarge
HILLA, Iraq (AFP) - A bomb exploded in the office of the head of a US-trained Iraqi police special intervention team, killing him and wounding eight of his comrades, police said at the scene.
The attack killed Colonel Salaam Maamuri, the commander of the Iraqi police's Hilla Emergency Brigade, which locals have nicknamed "SWAT" after the heavily armed fast response teams used by US police forces.
"He was transferred to hospital after the bomb went off, but he died on the way," said Lieutenant Kadhem Shamari, as US troops arrived to seal off the brigade's headquarters in this southern city.
Doctor Haidar Timimi at Hilla's main hospital confirmed the death and said eight wounded officers were receiving treatment.
Maamuri had previously survived several assassination attempts. His squad was set up with US support to fight insurgents in an area south of Baghdad, including a region that became notorious as the "Triangle of Death".
In recent months Iraqi police have born the brunt of insurgent violence directed at Iraq's US-backed coalition government, but it is unusual that bombers would manage to plant a device inside a headquarters building.
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Last week, the US-led coalition revealed that 4,000 Iraqi police officers have been killed over the past two years.
On Thursday Gerald Burke, a US police expert seconded to the Iraqi interior ministry as an adviser, told an audience in Chicago that the force has budgeted to expect to lose 25 officers per day to death or serious injury.
"We budgeted for 10 Iraqi policemen killed every day and 15 wounded in action to the point where they had to be retired from action" in 2006, Burke said.
Burke described the appalling conditions facing police whom he helped train, to a meeting of the Democratic Policy Committee, which includes Democratic legislators.
He blamed much of the current bloodshed on the US government's "failure to recognize the importance of security in the immediate post-conflict environment, in particular our failure to support the rule of law."
He was extremely supportive of the democratic process in the south central region and provided reinforcements & supplies without question.
Several times we were guests of his for lunch in the office he was killed in.
3000 attended his funeral and he was escorted by 5th SFG.
Others killed included his 2IC, a Major.
Hilla SWAT is one of the only effective Iraqi fighting units operating in this country. They are highly trained and aggresive compared to regular IA/IP.
*Correction to the article: The locals did not 'nickname' Hilla SWAT. SWAT is SWAT and was named that when the unit was formed by SF.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/061013/afp/061013084317top.html
Bomb kills head of Iraqi 'SWAT team'
Photo: AFP
Click to enlarge
HILLA, Iraq (AFP) - A bomb exploded in the office of the head of a US-trained Iraqi police special intervention team, killing him and wounding eight of his comrades, police said at the scene.
The attack killed Colonel Salaam Maamuri, the commander of the Iraqi police's Hilla Emergency Brigade, which locals have nicknamed "SWAT" after the heavily armed fast response teams used by US police forces.
"He was transferred to hospital after the bomb went off, but he died on the way," said Lieutenant Kadhem Shamari, as US troops arrived to seal off the brigade's headquarters in this southern city.
Doctor Haidar Timimi at Hilla's main hospital confirmed the death and said eight wounded officers were receiving treatment.
Maamuri had previously survived several assassination attempts. His squad was set up with US support to fight insurgents in an area south of Baghdad, including a region that became notorious as the "Triangle of Death".
In recent months Iraqi police have born the brunt of insurgent violence directed at Iraq's US-backed coalition government, but it is unusual that bombers would manage to plant a device inside a headquarters building.
ADVERTISEMENT
Last week, the US-led coalition revealed that 4,000 Iraqi police officers have been killed over the past two years.
On Thursday Gerald Burke, a US police expert seconded to the Iraqi interior ministry as an adviser, told an audience in Chicago that the force has budgeted to expect to lose 25 officers per day to death or serious injury.
"We budgeted for 10 Iraqi policemen killed every day and 15 wounded in action to the point where they had to be retired from action" in 2006, Burke said.
Burke described the appalling conditions facing police whom he helped train, to a meeting of the Democratic Policy Committee, which includes Democratic legislators.
He blamed much of the current bloodshed on the US government's "failure to recognize the importance of security in the immediate post-conflict environment, in particular our failure to support the rule of law."
