AQI lays siege to Mosul district

NINEWA / IraqiNews.com: Al-Qaeda-in-Iraq (AQI) operatives have laid siege to Tal Abta, western Mosul, threatening truck drivers who transport goods to the district. “Gunmen alleging to belong to al-Qaeda network have imposed an economic siege on Tal Abta district (80 km west of Mosul),” a Sahwa leader in Ninewa province, Sheikh Ali Malih al-Zawbaie, told Iraqi News. “They have threatened to kill truck drivers who transport foodstuffs, water and oil derivatives to the district,” Zawbaie noted. The siege came after local residents refused to support armed groups in their “terrorist acts,” he added. During a tribal conference on Thursday (Sept. 24), Zawbaie accused the local government in Ninewa province of working under the umbrella of al-Qaeda and the dissolved Baath Party. Mosul, the capital city of Ninewa province, lies 405 km north of Baghdad. SS (P)/SR 1