6-Aug-09 [19:8]

Iraq - an attempt to foil the theft of a bank in Baghdad on Tuesday

PNA - and agencies: the Ministry of Finance announced Thursday that five Iraqi guards were able to cope with the gang posing as security forces tried to rob a bank in Baghdad, the second within a week.

The Ministry of Finance in a statement that "security force driving the wheels of five (military vehicles) attempted robbery at the Bank of Bayaa 4.45 (1.45 GMT) on Tuesday morning and broke the front door by one of the wheels."

He added that "force protection, drove to the bank robbers and escaped to an unknown destination."

The statement stressed that "Finance Minister Baqer al-Zubaidi, the generosity of the five guards for their opposition to the heroic ring."

The gunmen managed to last Tuesday in a well-planned entry into the Rafidain Bank branch in the area of Karrada Azwaip (middle), or remove without breaking and killed eight of his guards before stealing an amount of eight billion and a half billion dinars (about 3.8 million dollars).

However, the Ministry of the Interior announced a day after the thieves and recover the amount and the arrest of three of them showed that they belonged to the presidential regiment on the protection of the Vice-President Adel Abdul Mahdi.

It should be noted that unknown armed men attacked ten days ago, the Office of banking industry in a street in Baghdad, opened fire on the guards, killing four of them, without being able to steal the money.

The operations came at a time when the violence went down and bombings in Baghdad and other governorates.