Torrential rains kill 4 family members in Tikrit

Tikrit-Family SALAH EL-Din, IraqiNews.com: Four persons from the same family were killed on Thursday when their house collapsed due to torrential rain in the east of Tikrit, a police source said. “Four persons, including three children, were killed when their house collapsed as a result of heavy rains in al-Waai al-Thawri region in al-Alam district in east of Tikrit,” the source told IraqiNews.com, noting that the father, who was out, survived, “The house collapsed due to the heavy rains for the second time this week,” he explained. 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 12th century. Salahuddin province is a variant version of the province’s name. SH (S)/SR 1