Arresting campaign in regions fought al-Qaeda in Diala – official

DIALA / IraqiNews.com: A member of the Diala council said on Friday that the regions that fought al-Qaeda in the past years suffer a wide-scale arresting campaign within Operation Bashaer al-Kheir (Promise of Good) II. “Iraqi forces participating in the Operation Bashaer al-Kheir (Promise of Good) II started to wage a wide-scale arresting campaign in the regions that faced armed groups, mainly al-Qaeda, in the past few years,” Muthanna al-Tamemi told IraqiNews.com news agency. “Most of these operations do not base on accurate information and target regions in Baaquba despite sacrifices made by these regions in the fight against al-Qaeda,” he added. For his part, the chief of the Diala police said that “the arresting operations target wanted men.” “Iraqi forces launch an organized campaign to arrest wanted men within the Operation Bashaer al-Kheir (Promise of Good) II,” General Abdulhussein al-Shemri told IraqiNews.com news agency. Operation Bashaer al-Kheir (Promise of Good) II, launched days ago, is covering all areas of Diala, where 21,000 personnel from the police, the Iraqi army’s 5th Division and two army brigades from outside the province are taking part. Operation Bashaer al-Kheir I, which was launched at the end of July 2008, covered all areas of Diala. Baaquba, the capital city of Diala province, lies 57 km northeast of Baghdad. SH (S) 1