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A policeman stands guard during a funeral for a victim who was killed in an attack in the town of Yusfiya, in Najaf, south of Baghdad, on Tuesday. (Reuters)
Published — Thursday 19 December 2013
Last update 19 December 2013 5:19 am
BAQUBA, Iraq: An Iraqi policeman gave his own life Wednesday in an attempt to protect women and children, embracing a suicide bomber just moments before an attack to shield others from the blast.
The bomber struck in Khales, northeast of Baghdad, killing five people and wounding 10, a police colonel and a doctor said.
The toll would probably have been higher were it not for the selfless actions of one policeman, whom the colonel said threw his arms around the bomber, dying to save others.
The police hero was named as Ayyub Khalaf, 34, who was married and had two children, aged six and nine.
“Ayyub was martyred while defending the people, and his name will be an eternal symbol because he saved the lives of dozens of innocents,” his friend Saad Naim said.
“We will take revenge on the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization,” he added.
The Khales bombing was the latest in a series of attacks targeting Shiites, including two in Baghdad province that killed at least eight people on Tuesday, and two car bombings that took the lives of at least 24 dead on Monday.
Al-Qaeda linked militants, frequently target members of Iraq’s Shiite majority.
Also on Wednesday, a roadside bomb in the northern city of Mosul killed two people and wounded two others, and gunmen killed two soldiers and wounded two in an attack on a checkpoint, officials said.
Violence has reached a level this year not seen since 2008, when Iraq was just emerging from a period of brutal sectarian killings.
More people were killed in the first eight days of this month than in all of December last year.
And more than 6,550 people have been killed since the beginning of 2013, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.