AFP/Baghdad

A suspect being questioned over Baghdad bombings last week grabbed a police weapon and killed an officer, the interior ministry said yesterday, as it announced an inquiry into the “negligence”.

The suspect, who also shot and wounded the policeman whose gun he took, later died in hospital. The ministry did not specify whether he had been shot by police or taken his own life.

The announcement came shortly after the UN confirmed a special envoy would be visiting Baghdad today to make preliminary findings on security after last weekend’s bombings and a similar attack against government offices in August.

“One of our police officers was killed by a suspect involved in Sunday’s bombings,” a ministry statement said, adding that the incident occurred at 1am on Friday at the Criminal Investigations Directorate in central Baghdad.

During the interrogation, a policeman offered the suspect water. The suspect then stole the policeman’s gun and shot and wounded him before firing on Major Arkham Hachim with the same gun, killing him instantly.

The suspect was then shot—the statement did not say by whom - and transferred to a nearby hospital, where he died of his wounds.

The interior ministry said it had recognised that “negligence led to this incident” and announced that it would name a judge to lead an independent inquiry.

Last Sunday’s twin suicide bombings against government buildings in central Baghdad killed 155 people. 

Baghdad Governor Salah Abdul Razzaq has called for Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani and Baghdad Operations Command (BOC) chief Lieutenant General Abboud Qanbar to be sacked over Sunday’s attacks, which have been claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq, a group linked to Al Qaeda.

Bolani, however, insisted in remarks published yesterday that Baghdad’s security was the exclusive responsibility of the BOC and urged the governor to focus on his own responsibilities. 

UN Assistant Secretary General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco’s trip to Baghdad, which will include talks with Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, comes after intense lobbying by Iraq for an independent probe into the massive attacks.