Militants with explosive belts and military uniforms invaded on Tuesday the council of a northern province of Iraq, in an attempt to take hostages killed at least 21 dead, authorities said. Are missing three lawmakers who were in the building of the Salahuddin provincial council in Tikrit, when militants took over the building, the governor said Ahmed Abdullah.
He said he did not respond to their mobile phones and their whereabouts were unknown, suggesting that they could hold them hostage. "We have lost contact with three members of the provincial council who were in the building when the attack occurred," Abdullah said in an interview telephone from Amman, Jordan, where he kept track via mobile phone.
Described a shootout between at least eight gunmen who had seized the second floor of the council and the security forces surrounding the building. He said the militants hurled grenades at Iraqi forces. The provincial press advisor Mohammed al-Asi said the siege still continued, had left 21 dead and 65 wounded.
One of the dead was journalist Sabah al-Bazi, a correspondent for Al-Arabiya channels and CNN, as the two companies. A police intelligence service in Baghdad said the militants had some hostages, but did not know how many. Attributed the attack to Al-Qaeda in Iraq. "The goal of the attackers appeared to take hostages," said provincial government spokesman, Ali al-Saleh.
Some officials were able to escape, he added. Tikrit, 130 kilometers north of Baghdad, is the hometown of Saddam Hussein. Authorities say attackers detonated a car outside the council headquarters as herring before starting the attack. Dressed in military uniform''one of them with high-grade''badges identifying themselves as soldiers in the security checkpoint outside the building, but opened fire when they said they would catearlos. 
He said he did not respond to their mobile phones and their whereabouts were unknown, suggesting that they could hold them hostage. "We have lost contact with three members of the provincial council who were in the building when the attack occurred," Abdullah said in an interview telephone from Amman, Jordan, where he kept track via mobile phone.
Described a shootout between at least eight gunmen who had seized the second floor of the council and the security forces surrounding the building. He said the militants hurled grenades at Iraqi forces. The provincial press advisor Mohammed al-Asi said the siege still continued, had left 21 dead and 65 wounded.
One of the dead was journalist Sabah al-Bazi, a correspondent for Al-Arabiya channels and CNN, as the two companies. A police intelligence service in Baghdad said the militants had some hostages, but did not know how many. Attributed the attack to Al-Qaeda in Iraq. "The goal of the attackers appeared to take hostages," said provincial government spokesman, Ali al-Saleh.
Some officials were able to escape, he added. Tikrit, 130 kilometers north of Baghdad, is the hometown of Saddam Hussein. Authorities say attackers detonated a car outside the council headquarters as herring before starting the attack. Dressed in military uniform''one of them with high-grade''badges identifying themselves as soldiers in the security checkpoint outside the building, but opened fire when they said they would catearlos.
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