www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_1443869,00.html
Baghdad - Iraqi police have discovered an ambulance packed with 450kg of explosives and United States officials on Tuesday praised the find as an indication of the potential capabilities of the newly created force. On Monday evening, officers noticed the ambulance driving through a crowded district in the capital, became suspicious and called for the driver to stop, said Major Hakim Razak Kadim, a district commander of the Iraqi police. The ambulance raced away, but crashed into another vehicle and its occupants fled on foot, Kadim said. The vehicles occupants fled before they could be arrested, Kadim said, adding that officers were still looking for them and that it was not clear if they were linked to any particular resistance group. US forces have trained about 40 000 Iraqi policemen and are keen to hand over some of their duties to the new force. Police rushed to the vehicle and found the back packed with explosives, including four 155mm artillery shells. An electrical cord ran from the front of the car to the back where the explosives were located, said Colonel Kurt Fuller of the 82nd Airborne division. At a United States military base in Baghdad, reporters were shown the white vehicle on Tuesday. Would have destroyed a building Outside the ambulance were the four 30kg howitzer shells. The fuse at the top of one had been unscrewed and plastic explosives were crammed inside, which soldiers said would have detonated the explosives. Next to the shells were crates of plastic explosives and hard, yellow cylinders which were packed with explosives extracted from mortar and artillery shells. Fuller said the makeshift bomb would have done a tremendous amount of damage. Mark Hertling of the 1st Armoured division said the incident showed the importance of the local knowledge of Iraqi policemen. Im not sure my paratroopers would have realised something was wrong with the ambulance, Hertling said. Its another indication of how the Iraqi police are seeing Baghdad.
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