KurdistanObserver.com   5 Children Orphaned When Kurdish Woman Kills Herself In Grief Over Slain Husband The Associated Press August 12, 2007 KIRKUK, (Southern Kurdistan): Neighbors rushed to the house of a 34-year-old Kurdish woman after learning her husband was one of three policemen killed in an ambush Sunday near the disputed oil-rich city of Kirkuk. Layla Ridha Mohammed could not be comforted. She went inside, grabbed a pistol and shot herself in the head. The couple's five children are orphans. "Layla has a strong personality, but she must have felt undone by this event and not knowing how she could continue without him," said Bahjat Fattah Mustafa, a police officer and relative of the deceased. "They are a poor family." The suicide compounded the tragedy after Sunday's drive-by shooting that killed Muhsin Ali, her husband, and two of his colleagues as they were on a patrol southwest of Kirkuk, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad. The tragic tale illumiates the story of a country and families being ripped appart by sectarian killings that might not even be reported. The children, ages 5 to 11, were now staying with an uncle, Mustafa said, promising they would be well cared for by the extended family in the Kirkuk suburb of Daqouq. "We, the policemen and all the relatives will take care of the kids," he said. "Their father has three brothers and his mother and father are still alive." Police Brig. Gen. Sarhat Qadir, who reported the attack that wounded a fourth officer, said the gunmen were in one car when they opened fire. Associated Press photos show a policeman collaped in grief, still wearing a black bulletproof vest over his blue uniform. The wives of the other slain officers — Hewa Haweis and Mahmoud Saber — appeared inconsolable. One fell into the arms of a female relative. The other tore at her hair, her child resting in her lap. Ahmed Majeed, a 26-year-old who lives near the couple, said neighbors were unable to stop Layla from killing herself but managed to keep the children inside their two-room house, unable to see the suicide. "Then their uncle took them to his house," he said. Nobody claimed responsibility for the ambush that killed the police. Iraqi security forces are frequently targeted by militants who accuse them of collaborating with U.S.-led forces and the Iraqi government. A police major also was killed in the Diyala province city of Baqouba, 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad, when a bomb planted in his car exploded as he was driving, police officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information       Copyright © 2002, Kurdistan Observer