Iraq security forces ambush militant convoy
BAGHDAD (AP) — A government spokesman says security forces have ambushed a convoy of fuel tankers trying to illegally enter Iraq from Syria, killing at least eight drivers.
Interior Ministry spokesman Saad Maan Ibrahim says the operation took place near the Iraqi border at dawn Sunday. Ibrahim says intelligence reports suggest the convoy was aiming to supply an al-Qaida spin-off group with fuel.
The group, known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, has been controlling areas in Iraq's Anbar province since December along with other Sunni insurgent groups. Since then, government forces and allied Sunni tribal militia have been trying to dislodge the militants from parts of the provincial capital, Ramadi, and the nearby town of Fallujah, but have made no significant progress.
