MOSUL, Iraq • An extra 3,000 police are to boost forces in Iraq's northern Nineveh province where troops are readying for a new assault on Al Qaeda after lethal bombings in Mosul city, an official said yesterday.

Of these, 1,000 will form a new rapid response unit bearing the name of Nineveh provincial police chief Brigadier General Salah Al Juburi, who was killed with two other officers by a suicide bomber in Mosul on Thursday. The attacker struck when Juburi went to inspect the carnage from a massive bombing the previous day.

Brigadier General Wathiq Al Hamdani, who has been appointed acting Nineveh police chief in Juburi's place, said another 2,000 police would also be recruited, with preference being given to family members of those killed in Wednesday's building blast.