BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Twelve people were killed on Sunday when gunmen detonated a bomb outside Iraq'scentral bank and battled with security forces from the rooftops in what officials said could be a raid on the bank's vaults.
At least one bomb and perhaps as many as four exploded as bank employees were leaving work, sending athick plume of smoke over Baghdad after setting the bank's generator on fire.
Troops and police came under fire from gunmen as they surrounded the bank in case the bombing was part ofa plan to rob the institution of its stockpiles of Iraqi dinars and U.S. dollars, said Baghdad security spokesman Major General Qassim al-Moussawi.
"It's not clear to us whether this was a robbery or an attempt to cause destruction," said Moussawi. "But we can definitely say they targeted the central bank."
Moussawi declined to give a death toll. Police and Interior Ministry sources said 12 people died and at least 22 were wounded in the bomb blast and subsequent gunfight.
Recent weeks have seen a spurt of deadly gold market robberies and attacks by suspected Sunni Islamistinsurgents as tensions simmer following an inconclusive election in March that produced no outright winner.
Many of the groups that took up arms after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein have turned to crime as the sectarian war and al Qaeda-led insurgency fade. Gunmen killed 14 people on May 25 in a raid on Baghdad goldsmiths and three on June 9 in an attack on a gold market in southern Basra.
A police source said Sunday's attack on the central bank, which took place a day before Iraq's new parliament was due to hold its first session, involved up to four bombs. Moussawi said one roadside bomb was used.
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