Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    FALLUJAH, Iraq, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- A policeman was kidnapped and 10 others were wounded when gunmen attacked their checkpoint early on Friday near the city of Fallujah, 50 km west of Baghdad, a local police source said.

    "Dozens of gunmen stormed a checkpoint outside the town of Saglawiyah, 5 km northeast of Fallujah, and clashed with policemen manning the checkpoint," the source old Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    The attackers, believed to be affiliated with the al-Qaida in Iraq network, kidnapped a policeman and wounded 10 others before they fled the scene, the source said.

    Fallujah, capital of Anbar province, has been relatively calm after Sunni tribes and anti-U.S. insurgent groups turn up against al-Qaida in Iraq network, cooperating with the U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces.

    Rifts emerged between predominantly Sunni insurgent groups and the al-Qaida in Iraq organization after the latter adopted a hardline Islam and exercised indiscriminate killings against both Shiite and Sunni Muslim communities.