Security forces kill 1 gunman in Ninewa

NINEWA/IraqiNews.com: Security forces on Sunday arrested a gunman and blew up a weapons depot in two separate operations in the Northern Province of Ninewa, a military spokesman said. “A force from al-Hadbaa police station captured a gunman in al-Ghizlani district, south Mosul following an intelligence tip-off,” Brig. Khalid Abdelsattar, spokesman for Ninewa Operations Command, told IraqiNews.com. Meanwhile, the spokesman noted a force from Iraqi army 3 rd Division blew up a weapons depot in Talafar town, 60 km west Mosul”. “The depot contained six roadside bomb and eight Katyusha rockets,” he added. Mosul, the provincial capital of Ninewa, 400 km north Baghdad, is viewed by U.S. and Iraqi authorities as one of the last remaining al-Qaida strongholds in Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered a two-phase military crackdown in the northern city in May. Ninewa officials said the gains from these operations, however, have disintegrated as militant groups re-entered the city there due to an insufficient number of Iraqi troops to maintain security following operations in May. AM(S) 1