4 security elements killed near Tikrit

Tikrit-Security SALAH EL-DIN / IraqiNews.com: Four elements of a security company were killed on Wednesday in a bomb blast near their convoy near Tikrit, a security source said. “A roadside bomb, planted on the road between Baiji and al-Sainiya, north of Tikrit, went off targeting a convoy of a security company, which is working with U.S. security forces, killing four elements and injuring another one,” the source told IraqiNews.com. “The blast set one of the convoy’s vehicles ablaze,” he added. “A U.S. military chopper landed on the area and evacuated the victims,” he also said. No word was immediately available from the U.S. army on the incident. Salah al-Din has an area of 24,751 square kilometers (9,556.4 sq mi). The estimated population for 2003 was 2,146,500 people. Located in Central Iraq, north of Baghdad, it is a mainly Sunni province with only two Shiite districts, namely Balad and al-Dujail. Its capital city is Tikrit, the hometown of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. It also includes other important districts like Baiji, north of Tikrit , 175 km north of Baghdad. The province also contains the significantly larger city of Samarra. Before 1976 the province was part of the governorate of Baghdad. It is named after Saladin (written Salah ah Din in modern Arabic), an ethnic Kurd and hero of the 12 th century. Salahuddin province is a variant version of the province’s name. SH (S)/SR 1