AlQa'dah 5, 1432, Oct 3, 2011, SPA - Gunmen disguised as police officers seized control of a police station in western Iraq Monday morning, killing at least three people and taking dozens more hostages before Iraqi forces swept in and ended the standoff, Iraqi officials said. The three-hour hostage crisis took place in western Iraq's Anbar province, according to a report of the Associated Press. Four insurgents wearing police uniforms with explosive vests underneath, armed with grenades and pistols with silencers, walked into the police station in al-Baghdadi around 9 a.m., said Brig. Mohammed al-Fahdawi of the Iraqi Army's 7th Division in Anbar province. Because the gunmen were wearing police uniforms, they were not searched, he said. Three of the hostages died along with all four of the gunmen when Iraqi police stormed the station to free an estimated 40 people held inside, said al-Fahdawi, who coordinated the rescue operation. Two of the insurgents blew themselves up when the Iraqi forces entered the building and the other two were killed by security forces, he said. Deputy governor of Anbar province Dhari Arkan confirmed that the hostage standoff had ended, and said three people were killed. The mayor of the nearby town of Hit, Hikmat Juber, said many of the hostages were government officials working on the second floor of the building. Just as the hostage crisis was ending, gunmen tried to attack another police station about ten miles (kilometers) away but were repulsed, al-Fahdawi said. Security forces killed two insurgents and arrested another three.
