MIN. AL-NAQIB: Thank you very much, and welcome.

I will talk about the last two days regarding the activities of the Ministry of Interior, represented by the Iraqi National Guard and also Iraqi armed forces. There have been certain breaches in the province of Al Basrah, and before that, in Najaf province also.

In Najaf, the Iraqi National Guard and Iraqi police who were supported by the air force of the multinational forces, they have scanned the cemetery and have confiscated large amounts of weapons and have captured about 1,200 individuals. Some of them are of non-Iraqi nationalities. This operation had lasted until today, and the Iraq National Guard and the Iraqi police were able to reach the perimeters of the holy shrine. In spite of what media reports have said
This guy has been partially Americanized. They don't trust the press but they don't know enough not to say so.,
the coalition forces, or the multinational forces, have crossed the red line and have started approaching the holy shrine.

We say this to the Iraqi people and to anyone who is keen and has the holiness of this shrine in his interests. We say that the multinational forces right now are located in the 1920 Revolution Square. The operations are still continuing in this city and will continue to take place until these militias evacuate the holy shrine either by force or by surrendering to the Iraqi authorities, and to take advantage of the amnesty period issued by the prime minister.

Regarding to the province of Diwaniyah, two days ago some al- Sadr-related groups have come from Nasiriyah. They were about 200 in number, and they settled down at Diwaniyah and started launching attacks the next day in the morning and tried to enter some of the government's buildings. But they were repelled by the Iraqi police and the Iraqi National Guard, who were able -- in cooperation with the multinational forces, they were able to repel their attacks and captured 47 of them. And 10 of them were injured. These injured are now at the hospital. And also among these people were those who do not speak Arabic.