Feral Jundi

     Scary stuff and this kind of thing is not cool for the war effort.  Rest in peace to the Iraqi security guards that were gunned down in this.

     Also, the use of suppressed weapons is interesting as well.  Obviously these guys were well equipped and somewhat trained to pull off something like this.  Could it be organized crime, or the insurgency, or a little bit of both?  Who knows, but what pisses me off now is that money will be used to fund future operations, and we will probably see more robberies like this one. Worse yet, this money could be used to fund operations against US troops and the Iraqi forces.-Matt

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8 killed in $7-million Baghdad bank robbery

Iraq police say the overnight robbery appeared to be a sophisticated operation. A recent spate of robberies has aroused suspicion that insurgents are financing their activities through crime.

By Liz Sly and Usama Redha

July 29, 2009

Reporting from Baghdad — Thieves killed eight security guards and made off with nearly $7 million in an overnight bank heist Tuesday that police officials say could have been the work of insurgents.

The deadly robbery came on the day U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates flew into Baghdad on an unannounced visit to get a first-hand look at conditions now that American combat troops have withdrawn from Iraq’s cities.

Gates said he thought the transfer of authority to the Iraqis had gone smoothly.

“I think it’s inevitable given the changes of circumstances that there would be the occasional problem,” he said at a news conference with Iraqi Defense Minister Abdul-Qader Mohammed Jassim Mifarji.

“What I think is remarkable is that you have such a dramatic redeployment of American forces and a dramatic change of the rules of operation, and there have been so few problems along the way.”

Iraqi police said the thieves used guns equipped with silencers to kill three guards outside a branch of the state-owned Rafidain Bank in east Baghdad’s Karada neighborhood during the night. They then killed five guards who were sleeping inside the bank before making off with the cash.

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