Al Qaeda running out of funds?

By STEVEN LEE MYERS

Published: May 25, 2010

BAGHDAD — A large group of gunmen, armed with rifles, grenades and bombs, staged an audacious midday robbery of a strip of jewelry stores within sight of police and army checkpoints in Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 14 people, according to officials and a witness.

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Even as a search for the robbers continued, with the entire neighborhood locked down, Iraqi commanders blamed Al Qaeda in Iraq, saying its fighters were desperate to replenish their coffers after a wave of arrests and the killing of the group’s leaders
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The robbery occurred on the main commercial thoroughfare in the Baya neighborhood — Street No. 20 — just before noon, prompting a firefight with Iraqi police officers and soldiers that the gunmen evidently won. At least four police officers were wounded, one gravely.