By Prensa Latina,
Baghdad : Police and military troops from Iraq and the Unites captured 37 alleged Al-Qaeda members in the province of Diyala, where violence and insecurity prevails.
Defense Ministry spokesman Muhammad al-Aaskari said the raids carried out in Diyala from Monday afternoon to Tuesday dawn allowed authorities to capture armed group members wanted by the Police.
A detachment of police officers and army troops, backed up by US occupation forces, located and arrested Najib Ismail al-Zuheiri, who was identified as a key al-Qaeda leader in Iraq.
For over a week, Iraqi government forces have carried out what they call a large-scale security campaign in the districts of al-Muqdadiya and al-Khalis, in Diyala.
The so-called Operation Bashaer al-Kheir has a counterinsurgent goal, although authorities claim it is aimed at annihilating the remnants of Osama bin Laden’s group in the country.
However, tension is mounting in Iraq, including the capital, where Baghdad’s Command of Operations reported the confiscation of a large cache of heavy weapons and ammunitions in Sadr City.
The 42nd Brigade and the 3rd Contingent of the Army seized seven 122-mm Grad missiles, a 240-mm rocket, 135 bombs, 25 Katyusha rockets and missile launch pads in the aforementioned area, according to a military spokesperson.
They also confiscated other arms caches and 200 videos on armed operations.
The Police are on alert in the city of Nasiriya, where they disarmed a 40-kg C-4 bomb on a road that connects the district of Sabd Dakhiel, in the northwest.
In the northern city of Mosul, the capital of Ninive province, security forces detonated a car bomb, arrested four suspected resistance members and seized arms caches in two raids on Monday.
In addition to detaining four men in Tal Meshref, in the district of Sinjar (western Mosul), the Police seized several RPG self-propelled grenade launchers, a BKC weapon, a gun and ammunitions.