Bomber arrested in Saddam’s birthplace

SALAH AL-Din / IraqiNews.com: Security forces in Salah al-Din arrested a potential suicide bomber in the former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s birthplace village of al-Ouja for planning an attack on a local elections’ ballot station in Tirkit city on Saturday, an Iraqi police source said. “The police arrested 21-year-old Ali Abdullah Saleh, a local resident of al-Ouja after seizing an explosive belt inside his home,” the source told IraqiNews.com news agency. “The police searched Saleh’s home in the village after confessions made by recently arrested persons who revealed a network of suicide bombers inside Salah al-Din province,” the source said. “The detainee confessed during initial investigations that he was planning to blow himself up inside a ballot station in Tikrit,” he added. Provincial council elections are scheduled to be held in 14 Iraqi provinces on Saturday (Jan. 31). Tikrit, the capital city of Salah al-Din, lies 175 km north of Baghdad. AmR (P) 1