12 security personnel detained for murders, kidnappings

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi security forces on Monday detained 12 interior ministry personnel who were proved involved in 15 murder and kidnapping cases, including the assassination of Vice President Tareq al-Hashimi’s sister in 2006, an official security source said. “Of these murders the 12 personnel confessed to was the assassination of Vice President Hashimi’s sister, Maysoon al-Hashimi, who was killed along with her driver in 2006,” Maj. General Abdulkareem Khalaf, the Iraqi interior ministry’s official spokesman, told IraqiNews.com news agency. Maysoon had been assassinated with her driver in late April 2006, a couple of weeks after her brother Mahmoud al-Hashimi was assassinated. “All the detainees used to carry out their crimes in police uniform and using police vehicles,” Khalaf said. He added that there are 13 more at large, noting the ministry is tracking them down. AmR (P)/SR 1