Insurgents strike in wave of violence

INSURGENTS killed a police captain at a checkpoint and gunned down an Iraqi National Guard officer in a billiard hall in scattered violence against American forces and their allies in northern Iraq yesterday.

Police Captain Bassam Ali Ahmed died of wounds a day after being shot on Thursday as he manned a checkpoint in Samarra. Iraqi and US forces mounted a major offensive against Sunni Muslim rebels in the city two months ago, but there have been frequent attacks since then.

Further to the north, in the restive oil refining town of Baiji, Ziyad Tareq, an off-duty member of the Iraqi National Guard, was shot dead by men who burst into a billiard hall armed with automatic rifles, police and hospital staff said.