Attacks against Iraqi police, 108 Iraqis arrested
One Iraqi police woman was killed and others survived in new armed attacks against police members in Iraq. One official in the Iraqi police Col. Ahmad al-Allawi said that gunmen opened fire at the police car in al-Amin quarters to the east of Baghdad and this resulted in killing one woman police officer and injuring her colleague.
A source in the Iraqi police said that the police commander in Bahraz area in the north of Baghdad, Muhammad Azzawi, on Sunday survived an assassination attempt that resulted in killing one of his guards and three persons were killed. Azzawi said that one car intercepted his procession and gun men came out of it and opened fire.
The speedy escalation of the attacks came despite the security operation of the interim Iraqi government known as "lightening." In the context of this operation, the Iraqi forces backed by the American army launched expanded large breaking in and detention operations in south Baghdad.
The campaign started in Ltefeh and extended to the neighboring al-Mahmoudeyah and al-Toysefeyah. The American military forces support this campaign due to the risky areas where the events are taking place, resulted in detaining some 108 Iraqis over suspicion they are involved in armed operations. One officer in the American army announced that the number of detainees since last Wednesday in the areas of south Baghdad reached 221.
An American military source announced that some 50 shelters for weapons and ammunition were discovered, the largest of which was in al-Karma area, 80 Km to the east of the Iraqi capital. The seized weapons include machine guns, mortars, missiles and night equipments.
In another development, the Iraqi police announced the detention of four suspects in campaigns launched in farms and the insutrial quarters to the south of Karbala after finding a shelter for weapons in the city which is inhabited by a Shiite majority.
On the other hand, the Iraqi ministry of the interior said it arrested al-Mulla Mahdi, who was described as an aide for the leader of al-Qaida organization in Mesopotamia Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, as well as other 6 in a breaking in operation last Friday in Musil.