(KUNA) -- Unidentified gunmen gunned down 15 Iraqi policemen and two interpreters on the road between Al-Zobair governorate and Basra city, south Iraq, an Iraqi security source told KUNA Sunday evening. The gunmen, riding five cars, intercepted police trainers who work at the Police Academy in Al-Zobair governborate, Basra province, and showered them with bullets, killing 15 policemen and two interpreters, the source said. British police officers train the Iraqi security forces in the academy. The incident is expected to exacerbate the security situation in the area that witnessed relative calm in the last few weeks.| Another explosion took place near an elementary school north of here, wounding 8 civilians. |
| Earlier in the day, the U.S. and Iraqi forces killed 17 gunmen in a shoot-out near Balad. |
In another development, the U.S. forces broke into several mosques and schools in the Sadr city during the noon prayer and arrested a number of worshipers. The operation targets the captors of a U.S. soldier in the city, Iraqi security sources told KUNA reporter there.
Also on Sunday, the Iraqi police found 40 bodies in various districts of Baghdad. Eleven bodies were also foundd in Al-Azeem district, south of Kerkuk, north Iraq. The victims, most of them Iraqi soldiers, were killed one day after being kidnapped in the area. They were riding a Kia vehicle when they were kidnapped by gunmen on Saturday, an Iraqi police officers told reporters.