Asia

Asia

Militants gun down two cops in Iraq

12 December 2010 03:23 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA.Gunmen have assassinated two police officers in separate attacks in Iraq as security forces step up clearing operations against al-Qaeda-linked militants operating in the country, APA reports quoting Press TV.

An Iraqi police captain was killed on Saturday when his vehicle came under fire by a group of armed men, who shot him with silencer-fitted pistols in Baghdad’s western district of Mansour, security sources told the Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

In the northern province of Nineveh, another police officer was gunned down in the provincial capital, Mosul. The first lieutenant, who was from the Mosul Police Department, was shot dead near his house in the al-Zuhoor neighborhood in eastern Mosul.

Also on Saturday, police and security forces in the southeastern province of Maysan arrested 12 men on various charges, including premeditated murder and robbery, and seized 20 mortar shells across the province.

Meanwhile, on Friday, police forces detained an al-Qaeda leader in the al-Khanassa area of the al-Suweira district, which lies north of Kut, the capital of Maysan province.

The police also discovered some light weapons and a number of hand grenades in the northern part of the eastern province of Wasit.

Two other suspects were apprehended on the same day in the Talafar district, northwest of Mosul, in connection with a bombing that left one civilian dead and three others injured in the northern part of the district on Tuesday. Separately, a cache of weapons and 50 kg of highly explosive materials were seized in Talafar’s eastern area of Mir Qassem.

Earlier on Friday, the authorities in Talafar declared a security alert based on intelligence tip-offs about possible attacks on Shia mosques and mourning gatherings during the lunar month of Muharram.

Every year on the tenth day of Muharram, which is known as Ashura and is the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (PBUH), thousands of Muslims from all over Iraq and neighboring countries hold mourning ceremonies and many head for the holy city of Karbala, where the shrine of Imam Hussein (PBUH) is located.