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| Iraq |
| Iraq arrests 80 suspected militants |
| 2010-12-17 |
| [Iran Press TV] Iraqi security forces have rounded up as many as 80 suspected jihad boys, who intended to cause "chaos" in the holy city of Karbala in central Iraq. Senior Iraqi military official, General Othman al-Ghanimi, said the detainees had terrorist links, AFP reported on Thursday. Karbala hosts the shrine of the third Shia Imam, Imam Hussein (PTUI!), whose martyrdom is commemorated in the first ten days of the holy month of Muharram. The city is currently swarmed with two million pilgrims, 238,000 of them from abroad, said Karbala provincial council chief Mohammed al-Mussawi. "We were able to destroy 14 terrorist cells and arrest 73 people, including 37 wanted persons," he said. "We seized lots of weapons, IEDs [improvised-bombs], explosives belts and equipment. "If they had been able to mount their attacks during the pilgrimage, it would have created chaos. Karbala is the main target for bully boyz during Ashura," he said. In March 2004, Iraq witnessed the deadliest attacks to take place yet on Ashura in the country with near-simultaneous bombings in Karbala and at a Shia mosque in Storied Baghdad in which more than 170 people were killed. Kadhim Hussein, a 40-year-old pilgrim from the southern port city of Basra, said, "Everything right now inside Karbala is good." "We will continue our commemorations of [Imam] Hussein's martyrdom despite all the threats from enemies of Shia Mohammedans." The forces' control over the security situation reflects well on their readiness to take fully over from the United States forces. The American military is set to leave the country next year, ending more than seven years of US-led occupation. Over one million Iraqis have been killed during the same period, according to the Caliphornia-based investigative organization Project Censored. US Vice President Joe Foreign Policy Whiz KidBiden ... an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body ... , however, said last month that the American forces had to stay in Iraq beyond the deadline mentioned in the deal, claiming that the Iraqi security forces were not yet ready to fully operate on their own. "That is why, even at this difficult economic time, we are asking Congress to fulfill our budget requests to support America's continued engagement," he wrote in an article in The New York Times. |
| Posted by:Fred |