Iraq says 265 arrested in anti-Qaeda offensive
BAQUBA, Iraq (AFP) — Iraq said on Saturday that its military backed by US forces had arrested hundreds of suspects during an offensive aimed at stamping out Al-Qaeda in a restive central province.
"Our forces have arrested 265 suspects so far during our operations in Diyala", Major General Mohammed al-Askari, spokesman for the defence ministry, told AFP.
The raids have taken place throughout Diyala province where 50,000 Iraqi soldiers and police began a major push against insurgents on Tuesday to secure the volatile region.
"The operation is still on going successfully and is now in its fifth day," Askari said.
Among those detained was Abu Anas al-Baghdadi, a top al-Qaeda operative in Diyala and four members of the so-called Council of Mujahedeen, one of many front groups for Al-Qaeda, according to interior ministry spokesman Abdelkarim Khalaf.
Diyala, which has a long border with Iran, has been a centre of weapons smuggling and has suffered repeated suicide bombings, thought to be mostly orchestrated by Sunni Muslim Al-Qaeda operatives.
In the past few months the multi-ethnic region made up of Christians and Muslims has seen repeated efforts by the US and Iraqi militaries to drive out insurgents, both Sunni Al-Qaeda and various Shiite groups.
