5 AQI operatives nabbed in Karbala

KARBALA / IraqiNews.com: Five al-Qaeda-in-Iraq (AQI) operatives were arrested in Karbala before targeting Shiite pilgrims converging on the city to celebrate the Arbaeen festival, a local media director said on Monday. “A joint force from the Iraqi police and army arrested five members of al-Qaeda in al-Khanafesa area (30 km north of Karbala),” Maj. Alaa Abbas al-Ghanimi told IraqiNews.com news agency. Preliminary investigations have revealed that those arrested were plotting to target visitors converging on the city to commemorate the Arbaeen, the official explained. The Arbaeen is a religious occasion marking the 40 th day after the death of Imam al-Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson and the third holiest figure for Shiite Muslims, in the battle of Taf in Karbala in the Hijri year 61 (680 in the Gregorian calendar). Karbala, said to be housing the tombs of Imam al-Hussein and his brother Imam al-Abbas, lies 110 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. SS (P) 1