Unknown gunmen kill 1 civilian in volatile Ninewa

NINEWA / IraqiNews.com: One civilian was killed in volatile northern province of Ninewa on Thursday, a security source said. “Unknown gunmen shot a civilian while he was working in his orchard in al-Jamasa district, east Mosul,” a Ninewa security source told IraqiNews.com. Meanwhile the same source said “a roadside bomb went off against an Iraqi army patrol in al-Tanak district, west Mosul, leaving two soldiers lightly injured.” Mosul, the provincial capital of Ninewa, 400 km north of Baghdad, is viewed by U.S. and Iraqi authorities as one of the last remaining al-Qaeda strongholds in Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered a two-phase military crackdown in the northern city in May. Ninewa officials said the gains from these operations, however, have disintegrated as militant groups re-entered the city there due to an insufficient number of Iraqi troops to maintain security following operations in May. AM (P)/SR 1