Baghdad, Iraq ? Masked gunmen in the turbulent Iraqi city of Mosul ambushed a car carrying Turkish police officers Friday, shooting three to death and decapitating a fourth who tried to run away, witnesses said.

In a daytime attack reminiscent of the killing in March of four U.S. security contractors in Fallujah, militants looted the policemen’s weapons and set the car ablaze before escaping.

After the attack, residents stood around the burning white Chevrolet Caprice as the bodies lay face down in the street.

For the past six weeks, Mosul, Iraqi’s third-largest city, has exploded in violence, transforming from a relatively quiet region into a battleground between U.S. forces and insurgents.

Since early November, militants have attacked police stations, detonated car bombs and assassinated dozens of local security personnel and civilians. Over the past week, eight bodies were discovered in the area. Several were shot in the head with their hands tied behind their backs. Their bodies were dumped by the road.

Friday’s attackers also wounded two passengers who were believed to be riding in a second car that escaped.

One of the occupants of the first car appeared to have been Iraqi. A witness on the scene, Qoteiba Mohammed, told Agence France-Presse that the driver of the car pleaded for his life before being shot.