15 Killed in Baghdad Gold Heist

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From Associated Press <br />
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BAGHDAD - Masked men armed with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles shot up a jewelry market in Baghdad Tuesday, killing 15 people before they fled with a large...

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The jewelry shops in Baiyaa are clustered in two buildings at one end of a busy market street with many other types of stores.

There is a security checkpoint about 800 yards from the shops. And police said some of the shop owners attacked had licensed weapons, including AK-47s and other guns, which they kept inside the shops largely as a deterrent. But they said the owners were taken by surprise, and did not have the chance to defend themselves.

Police said the attackers first set off a roadside bomb near the shops, killing four bystanders and wounding three. Then they opened fire on 12 shops, killing nine gold shop owners or their workers and two bystanders. A hospital official confirmed the number of casualties.

The police and hospital officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

In past robberies, jewelry stores have been frequent targets, along with homes, cars, currency exchanges, pawn shops and banks have also been hit. But Tuesday's attack was one of the deadliest in the crime wave.

Several weeks ago, al-Moussawi blamed al-Qaida for an attempt to rob a private bank in the Mansour neighborhood of western Baghdad that was foiled by security forces.

He said authorities believed al-Qaida was also behind at least several big robberies of currency exchanges in Baghdad over the past year, according to the confessions of people involved.

But he said other robberies were carried out by criminal gangs.

Al-Qaida short on cash?
Another security official also said al-Qaida in Iraq is short on cash and could have organized Tuesday's heist, though it was too early to confirm it. The official also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

In past years, insurgents in Iraq were believed to have turned to crime to finance their operations. In late 2007, they were blamed for attacking oil plants and trucks and punching through pipelines to steal crude they then smuggled to neighboring countries to sell.

There are few statistics tracking the number and kinds of crimes, in part because the government remains focused on the bombings and other insurgent attacks that continue throughout Iraq.

But crime has added to the woes of ordinary Iraqis, already plagued by years of war and a lack of electricity and other services.

In April last year, Iraq created a military task force to battle gangland-style crime after gunmen killed at least seven people during a daylight heist of jewelry stores.