2 gunmen arrested in Kirkuk while planting bomb

KIRKUK / IraqiNews.com: Two armed men were arrested on Sunday while they were attempting to plant a roadside bomb in western Kirkuk, according to a local police source. “The two persons were arrested on Sunday (Oct. 11) by a combined Iraqi-U.S. force at the al-Amal al-Shaabi neighborhood, (4 km) western Kirkuk city,” Brig, Sarhad Qader told IraqiNews.com news agency. He said that initial interrogations revealed that the two gunmen are affiliated with the armed al-Naqshbandiya group. Formed after 2003, Naqshabandiya is loyal to the former Iraqi Vice President Izzat al-Dori during the former regime of President Saddam Hussein. The group is believed responsible for a number of armed operations in Kirkuk and neighboring areas. The oil-rich Kirkuk, a city of mixed Kurdish, Turkmen and Arab population, lies 250 km northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. MH (P)/AmR 1