<p>"Unknown gunmen attacked a checkpoint located between Haditha and Baiji, killing eight" soldiers, a police major said on condition of anonymity.<br /><br />They then "collected their weapons and put the corpses in a vehicle and set it on fire" following the attack early today, he added.<br /><br />The attack on the soldiers, who were members of the 7th army division, took place about 100 kilometres northeast of Haditha, in Anbar province, the officer said.<br /><br />The checkpoint was on a strategic road linking the two Sunni provinces of Anbar and Salaheddin, and which the insurgents used to transport weapons between the two provinces.<br /><br />After the creation in Anbar of the Sahwa militia, comprised of Sunni tribesmen who joined forces with the US military against al-Qaeda from late 2006, many insurgents went to Salaheddin.<br /><br />Qaeda-affiliated militants have claimed responsibility for previous attacks in which security force members have been killed and their corpses burned, though there has not yet been a claim for today's attack.<br /><br />The violence comes after al-Qaeda's front group in Iraq threatened a campaign of 100 attacks, starting in mid-August, to avenge the death of Osama bin Laden in a US special forces raid in Pakistan in May.<br /><br />Violence is down across Iraq from its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common. A total of 239 people were killed in violence in the country in August, according to official figures.</p>
<p>"Unknown gunmen attacked a checkpoint located between Haditha and Baiji, killing eight" soldiers, a police major said on condition of anonymity.<br /><br />They then "collected their weapons and put the corpses in a vehicle and set it on fire" following the attack early today, he added.<br /><br />The attack on the soldiers, who were members of the 7th army division, took place about 100 kilometres northeast of Haditha, in Anbar province, the officer said.<br /><br />The checkpoint was on a strategic road linking the two Sunni provinces of Anbar and Salaheddin, and which the insurgents used to transport weapons between the two provinces.<br /><br />After the creation in Anbar of the Sahwa militia, comprised of Sunni tribesmen who joined forces with the US military against al-Qaeda from late 2006, many insurgents went to Salaheddin.<br /><br />Qaeda-affiliated militants have claimed responsibility for previous attacks in which security force members have been killed and their corpses burned, though there has not yet been a claim for today's attack.<br /><br />The violence comes after al-Qaeda's front group in Iraq threatened a campaign of 100 attacks, starting in mid-August, to avenge the death of Osama bin Laden in a US special forces raid in Pakistan in May.<br /><br />Violence is down across Iraq from its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common. A total of 239 people were killed in violence in the country in August, according to official figures.</p>