Diwaniya police to track down wanted persons outside province

DIWANIYA / IraqiNews.com: A senior security official in Diwaniya said a go-ahead was obtained from Iraq’s interior ministry to track down wanted persons who fled the province to other governorates. “The wanted persons had Iraqi blood on their hands and fled Diwaniya to other provinces,” the commander of the Diwaniya emergency police brigade, Col. Ghassan Mohammed, told IraqiNews.com. “We are working together with other security agencies throughout Iraq’s provinces to collect information about places where those wanted persons currently reside, and fake names they use,” he said. He pointed out that the Diwaniya police now have the right to operate within other provinces, in coordination with their security services and the combined operations room “to arrest those criminals and bring them to justice”. Diwaniya, a Shiite province, lies 180 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. In 2002, the population of Diwaniya was estimated at 420,000. The area around the province, which is well irrigated from the nearby Euphrates River, is often considered to be one of the most fertile parts of Iraq, and is heavily cultivated. The town is located on the main rail transport corridor between Baghdad and Basra. MH (S)/AmR 1