Assassinated police chief hit 25 times as US soldier killed in grenade attack

THREE gunmen with their faces covered with red and white Arab head-dresses assassinated the police chief in Iraq's Sunni Triangle yesterday in an ambush at a traffic roundabout.

Colonel Khedeir Mekhalef Ali, aged 48, the al-Khaldiya police chief, was shot at least 25 times, according to his driver, who also was wounded in the attack along with Ali's bodyguard.

The chief was driving to his home in Fallujah, 50 miles west of Baghdad, when the assailants ambushed his vehicle as it slowed for a roundabout.