Civilian wounded in IED blast, 7 arrested separately in Diala

DIALA / IraqiNews.com: A civilian man was wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in the district of al-Khalis on Sunday while seven persons were arrested in a security operation conducted in different areas of Baaquba after a district chief there survived an assassination attempt, a local security official in Diala said. “An IED went off on Sunday near a house belonging to a displaced man who had just returned to his original residential section in Khalis, (15 km) north of Baaquba, leaving a civilian man who happened to be near the blast scene wounded and the house severely damaged,” the source told IraqiNews.com news agency. In another development, a security operation carried out inside the areas of Djerf al-Maleh and al-Amin, central Baaquba, resulted in the arrest of seven persons, the same source added. “The operation was conducted after a local chief of the Djerf al-Maleh area survived and attempt on his life,” he said, not giving further details. Baaquba, the capital city of the restive province of Diala, lies 57 km northeast of Baghdad. AmR (P) 1