Robbers net £3.8 million in deadly Baghdad heist

Bank robbers made off with at least £3.8 million before dawn yesterday, leaving eight police guards dead in one of Iraq's biggest-ever heists.

The money had just been transferred to state-owned Al-Rafidain bank's branch in the central Baghdad shopping district of Karrada on Monday, and none of the branch's doors or windows were damaged in the overnight raid.

"The thieves arrived and stole at least 5.6 billion dinars ($4.8 million), which we received yesterday for the salaries of policemen who work for the interior ministry," according to a bank employee.

Police later said that 4.5 billion dinars in large denomination bills were stolen from the branch, with a further 1.1 billion dinars in smaller currency being left behind.

"The gangsters ignored the small bills and have taken around 4.5 billion dinars," a police officer at the scene said.

A police officer, who asked not to be identified, said an unknown number of gunmen entered the bank and managed to open the bank's safe, stealing all the money inside and killing eight police guards in the process.

The bodies of five of the guards were found in one room of the bank early yesterday. The bodies of the other three were found in a second room.

The heist follows a failed robbery at a Baghdad currency exchange shop on Sunday in which four security guards were killed and four other people were wounded.

In Iraq's biggest-ever hold-up, robbers stole $13.5 million from a Rasheed Bank branch in Ramadi, around 100 kilometres west of Baghdad, on January 13, 2005.

They left the bank's employees locked in a room, in an operation police said was conducted by insurgents seeking to replenish funds.