2 explosive belts seized near Kirkuk

KIRKUK / IraqiNews.com: A combined force on Friday seized two explosive belts planned to be used in an “act of sabotage” northwest of Kirkuk, a senior police official said. “A force from the Kirkuk Districts’ Police Department, in association with forces from the anti-terror squad of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), conducted a search raid on the borders of the Kazba Shan village, Sarkran district, (55 km) northwest of Kirkuk, seizing two explosive belts prepared for detonation,” Brig. Sarhad Qader, the KDPD chief, told Iraqi News. “The operation was carried out based on intelligence tip-offs by a local resident to the anti-terror squad,” which belongs to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani’s PUK party, the source added. The oil-rich Kirkuk, a city of mixed Turkmen, Arab and Kurdish population, lies 250 km northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. AmR (P) 1