On 2 May 2021, 12.8 million British viewers prepared to watch the season finale of ‘Line of Duty’, a popular BBC drama about bent coppers, detectives and edge-of-your-seat police action, excitedly waiting to see who ‘H’ was. Just two days earlier in Iraq, three policemen had lost their lives at a checkpoint, in the line of duty when ISIS militants attacked their patrol in Daquq. Five others were wounded.
These were the latest casualties in a war that has claimed around 14,000 Iraqi police officers’ lives since the March 2003 US-led invasion. In just four months this year, 23 policemen have been killed and they remain the biggest and most targeted civilian victim group in the country.
Research by Iraq Body Count reveals that Iraqi police officers die as a result of shootings, car bombs, suicide bombers and executions by terrorist groups. They are killed as they monitor checkpoints, patrol streets, protect towns and villages from attacks, dismantle bombs, enter booby-trapped homes and engage in clashes with terrorists and insurgents.
