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20 gunmen confessed to killing 300 civilians captured in Mosul
(VOI) Twenty gunmen who confessed to having killed more than 300 civilians were captured in the city of Mosul, a spokesman for the Iraqi Defense Ministry said on Sunday. "In addition to these, some 1305 gunmen were captured since the operations began in Mosul, 251 have been released so far," Maj. General Muhammad al-Askari said during a joint press conference with the spokesman of the U.S. army in Iraq, Admiral Patrick Driscoll.Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had launched Operation Za'eer al-Assad (Lion's Roar) on May 10 and later its offshoot Operation Umm al-Rabiain to track down gunmen belonging to al-Qaeda network. Mosul, the capital city of Ninewa, lies 405 km north of Baghdad. "Iraqi forces also managed to defuse 261 explosive devices and find a large weapons cache in the area of Wadi Akkab, western Mosul," Askari said. For his part, Adm. Driscoll said that violence toned down by 70% compared to March 2004, referring to dependence on weekly data provided by U.S. field commanders. "Most of the weapons found were Iranian-made," Driscoll said. Posted by: Fred 2008-05-26 |
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