Masked assailants ambushed a pickup truck carrying the chief of the embattled police force in the nearby city of Khaldiya today, killing him and wounding two others in a brazen daylight attack, hospital officials and police said. The death of Col. Khudheir Mikhlif Ali, 48, was a severe setback to the police force in Khaldiya, 45 miles west of Baghdad, which has become a flash point of opposition to the U.S.-led occupation. The killing underscored yet again the challenges facing the United States as it attempts to build up the Iraqi security forces in an effort to bring order to the country. Last week, demoralized police officers in Khaldiya complained in interviews with The Washington Post that they had grown isolated and faced mounting accusations from townspeople of working as collaborators with the U.S. military. In August, the mayor’s office was ransacked by an angry mob, which threw rocks and then burned the truck of Ali’s predecessor. Full Story
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