The police chief of central Iraq's Babil province was killed in a roadside bomb attack on Sunday near the provincial capital of Hilla, two police officers from the city told AFP. Major General Qais al-Mamoori was killed when the blast struck his convoy in the village of Al-Buajaj near Hilla, police Lieutenant Ali al-Shammari said.
Captain Muthanna Hassan, spokesman for Hilla police, confirmed that Mamoori had been killed in the attack. Doctor Mohammed al-Saidi from Hilla general hospital said Mamoori was brought alive to the facility but died on the operating table.
"After the attack he was brought to the Hilla hospital and doctors started an emergency operation on him. But he died in five minutes," Saidi told AFP.