Police defuse bombs believe to target al-Maliki

Thi-Qar THI-QAR / IraqiNews.com: Policemen on Tuesday defused 10 bombs which are believed to have been placed to target the motorcade of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki who visited the province on Monday, the chief of the local police said. “Anti-bomb squads defused ten explosive devices, planted by unknown gunmen on al-Houlandi river, believed to be targeting the motorcade of the al-Maliki who inaugurated a project in the province yesterday,” General Sabah al-Fatlawi told IraqiNews.com. Meanwhile, he said “the Thi-Qar police received amounts of weapons and ammunitions, including 80 mortar shells, 80 RBK rifles and 80 cannonballs as well as other weapons.” Thi-Qar, 380 km south of Baghdad, has an area of 12,900 square kilometers (4,980.7 sq mi). In 2003 the estimated population of the governorate was 1,454,200 people. Thi-Qar was the second Iraqi province where security responsibilities were transferred from the Multi-National Force (MNF) to the Iraqis. The province’s capital is the city of al-Nassiriya. It also includes the ancient Sumerian ruins of Ur, Eridu, Lagash and Ngirsu. Before 1976 the province was known as al-Muntafiq. SH (P)/SR 1