Woman involved with AQI arrested in Khalis

DIALA / IraqiNews.com: Policemen arrested a wanted woman on charges of working for an armed group during a search raid on an outdoor souk (market) in the district of al-Khalis, an official government source in Diala said on Friday. “The detained woman, who was holding a fake identification card but her true identity was uncovered, is a local resident of Salah al-Din province and is wanted by the judicial authorities in accordance with Article 4 of the law on terrorism on charges of working with Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) network,” the source told Iraqi News. Al-Khalis district lies 15 km north of the city of Baaquba. Wijdan Adel, the official in charge of the Daughters of Iraq association in Diala, had told Aswat al-Iraq on Thursday (Aug. 14) that a new mechanism was adopted by the association to curb “the phenomenon of female suicide bombers and the female armed organizations in the province”. “This mechanism envisages the distribution of members of the Daughters of Iraq on marketplaces and alleys clad in civilian clothes in an attempt to gather information about the activities of female suicide bombers and their whereabouts and to follow up female armed organizations,” she added. Diala, until a recent time one of the hottest spots in Iraq, is home to several strongholds of female armed organizations working for hard-line Islamist groups, namely the AQI and the self-styled Islamic State of Iraq. The volatile province had witnessed more than 30 suicide bombing attacks carried out by women during the past six years. Baaquba, the capital city of Diala province, lies 57 km northeast of Baghdad. AmR (S) 1