6 killed, wounded in Dalouiya clashes

SALAH AL-DIN / IraqiNews.com: Six persons were killed or wounded during armed clashes that erupted between civilians and a group of armed men in Salah al-Din’s Dalouiya district, a police source said on Tuesday. “Clashes broke out between residents of Bishkan village, eastern Dalouiya, and Sahwa council fighters on the one hand, and a group of armed men on the other hand following yesterday’s abduction of a farmer,” the source told IraqiNews.com. “Two young men, including a brother of the kidnapped farmer, were killed and four others, including two Sahwa members, were wounded in the clashes,” the source noted. 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. SS (S) 1