3 gunmen nabbed in Diala

Diala-Gunmen DIALA / IraqiNews.com: Three gunmen were detained during a security operation in the northeast of Baaquba, a security source said on Thursday. “An Iraqi army force arrested three gunmen on Wednesday night during a wide-scale security operation which covered the villages of Imam Weis region, west of al-Saadiya district, in Khaniqeen in northeast of Baaquba,” the source told IraqiNews.com. “The force found a weapons cache containing light weapons, mortars and bombs during the operation,” he added. Khaniqeen is located 155 km northeast of Baaquba. Diala province, a mix of Sunnis and Shiites, extends to the northeast of Baghdad as far as the Iranian border. Its capital is Baaquba, 57 km northeast of Baghdad. It covers an area of 17,685 square kilometers (6,828 sq mi). A large portion of the province is drained by the Diala River, a major tributary of the Tigris. Because of its proximity to two major sources of water, Diala’s main industry is agriculture, primarily dates grown in large Date Palm groves. It is also recognized as the orange capital of the Middle East. In January 2008 Operation Phantom Phoenix was launched in an attempt to eradicate the remnants of al-Qaeda network following the Diala province campaign between 2006 and 2007. SH (S)/SR 1