http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20041107/ts_afp/iraq_unrest&cid=1503&ncid=1480RAMADI, Iraq (AFP) - Gunmen shot dead 21 policemen, execution style, in Iraq (news - web sites), one day after a scourge of car bombs and clashes against police and local government targets killed 36 people.
The renewed violence against symbols of Iraq's US-backed government came as Prime Minister Iyad Allawi looked set to mount an offensive on rebel-held Fallujah, in the heart of Al-Anbar province, where the police massacre occured.
About 200 gunmen ambushed the main police station in Haditha, a town 200 kilometres, (120 miles) west of Baghdad, and another smaller station in the nearby village of Haqlaniya, said a local police officer.
"The attackers disarmed the police, gathered them together and then shot them dead," he said of the Haditha raid.
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